NEW DELHI (Realist English). India, which chairs BRICS in 2026, intends to persuade its partners in the association to expand the use of central bank digital currencies for international payments.
As Bloomberg reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocates using CBDCs for settlements in bilateral trade between BRICS members.
At the same time, according to sources, India does not support the creation of a single payment system for the entire bloc, which could be seen as a challenge to the global dominance of the dollar.
Reaching an agreement on creating such a system at the upcoming leaders’ summit in New Delhi is unlikely.
Two Approaches to Payment Integration
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed that BRICS consider two possible approaches to integrating payment systems. This was stated by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra. According to him, a special working group is studying both options.
| Approach | Description |
| Linking fast payment systems | Connecting national instant payment systems, such as India’s UPI and Brazil’s Pix |
| CBDC interoperability | Linking central bank digital currencies — India’s e‑rupee, China’s e‑yuan, the digital ruble and Brazil’s Drex |
“Proposals remain at the discussion stage; the overall infrastructure or implementation model has not yet been approved,” Malhotra noted.
India’s Position: Diversification, Not Confrontation
India emphasises that its initiative is aimed at diversifying payment options, not at creating an anti‑dollar alliance.
Trade and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal previously stated: “India does not support the creation of a single BRICS currency. We are against such a scheme.”
The goal of the proposal is to reduce dependence on the dollar while preserving national currencies and central bank control. As analysts note, linking digital currencies could provide an additional regulated channel for settlements without creating a common currency or a full‑fledged alternative to dollar infrastructure.
Incentives and Obstacles
Using national digital currencies for cross‑border payments could offer BRICS countries several advantages:
- Lower transaction costs: reducing correspondent bank fees and conversion expenses.
- Faster settlements: instant payments instead of multi‑day operations.
- Reduced vulnerability to sanctions: less dependence on SWIFT and US banking channels.
However, there are also serious obstacles. Fully‑fledged digital currencies have not yet been launched in most BRICS countries — all are at the pilot project stage.
Successful integration will require harmonising technological standards, governance rules and mechanisms for settling trade imbalances.
India already has experience in this area: its digital rupee (e‑rupee) has attracted 7 million retail users since its launch in December 2022.
Context: US Pressure and De‑Dollarisation
India’s initiative takes on particular significance amid growing tensions in relations with the US. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned BRICS countries about the consequences of abandoning the dollar.
Economist Jeffrey Sachs, in an interview with CNBC‑TV18, said that US pressure could, on the contrary, accelerate efforts to reduce dependence on the dollar. “The US made a serious mistake, which it continues to this day — it militarised the dollar,” Sachs noted.
According to him, trade between India and Russia is increasingly conducted in national currencies: about 96% of India‑Russia trade is carried out through rupee‑ruble mechanisms.
BRICS Summit Agenda
The BRICS summit will be held in New Delhi on September 12–13, 2026. In addition to payment integration, the agenda includes expanding the use of national currencies, strengthening the role of the New Development Bank (NDB) in mobilising private capital, and reforming the international financial system.
It is expected that sideline meetings will also be held with sovereign wealth funds managing $1 trillion in assets to discuss non‑dollar settlements and payment system linkages.
A Digital Path Away from the Dollar?
India’s proposal represents a pragmatic attempt to reduce reliance on the dollar without provoking a direct confrontation with Washington. By focusing on CBDC interoperability and linking fast payment systems, New Delhi offers a technically feasible and politically cautious alternative to the existing dollar‑centric infrastructure.
Yet the obstacles are formidable. Most BRICS members have not yet fully launched their digital currencies, and harmonising standards across diverse economies will take years. Moreover, without China’s active support — and given Beijing’s own ambitions for the digital yuan — the initiative may struggle to gain traction.
Open questions remain. Can India bridge the gap between its cautious approach and the more ambitious de‑dollarisation goals of Russia and China? Will the US respond with pressure or accommodation? And most importantly — is the world ready for a multipolar payments landscape, or will the dollar’s network effects prove too powerful to overcome?
For now, India has laid out a vision for a digitally connected BRICS — one that chips away at dollar dominance without declaring war on it. Whether that vision becomes reality will depend on the political will of its partners and the pace of technological development across the bloc.
