What India is Proposing at the BRICS Level
India’s central bank has proposed that BRICS countries link their official digital currencies to streamline cross-border payments for trade and tourism, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. The Reserve Bank of India has recommended that the proposal be placed on the agenda of the 2026 BRICS summit, which India is set to host later this year. If accepted, this would be the first formal attempt by the bloc to connect central bank digital currencies across member states. The idea would cover countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, with newer members also likely to take part in discussions. The sources requested anonymity, saying they were not authorised to speak publicly.
The initiative comes at a time of rising geopolitical strain and renewed debate over dependence on the U.S. dollar. Any coordinated BRICS move in this direction risks drawing pushback from Washington, which has warned against efforts to bypass dollar-based systems. U.S. President Donald Trump has previously described BRICS as “anti-American” and has threatened tariffs on its members.
Investor Takeaway
Why the RBI is Raising This Now
The proposal builds on a 2025 declaration made at a BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, where members backed closer interoperability between national payment systems. Indian officials have repeatedly said faster, cheaper cross-border payments remain a priority, especially for trade settlement and tourism flows. The RBI has also publicly expressed interest in linking India’s digital rupee with other countries’ CBDCs to speed up cross-border transactions and raise the rupee’s international profile. At the same time, it has insisted these efforts are not meant to promote de-dollarisation. The distinction matters politically, given India’s balancing act between deeper ties with BRICS partners and maintaining relations with the United States.
Officials from the RBI, India’s central government and Brazil’s central bank did not respond to requests for comment. China’s central bank said it had no information to share, while South Africa and Russia declined to comment.
How Far Along Are BRICS Digital Currencies?
None of the core BRICS members has fully launched a retail central bank digital currency, but all have active pilot programmes. India’s e-rupee has attracted around 7 million retail users since its launch in December 2022. China, meanwhile, has pledged to expand the international use of its digital yuan, particularly in cross-border settings.
India has promoted its digital currency by adding offline payment features, enabling programmable transfers for government subsidies and allowing fintech firms to offer digital-rupee wallets. These efforts reflect a broader attempt to anchor the e-rupee within the country’s existing digital payments ecosystem. According to one source, any BRICS-wide linkage would require agreement on core issues such as interoperable technology, governance standards and methods for handling trade imbalances between members. Reaching consensus may prove difficult, especially if countries hesitate to rely on technical platforms developed by others.
Investor Takeaway
Can Trade Imbalances Be Managed Digitally?
Past attempts to expand trade in local currencies among BRICS members highlight the challenge. Russia previously accumulated large balances of Indian rupees that it struggled to deploy, leading India’s central bank to allow those funds to be invested in domestic bonds. To avoid similar problems in a digital-currency framework, officials are exploring bilateral foreign-exchange swap arrangements between central banks. Under this approach, weekly or monthly settlements could be handled through swaps rather than requiring constant rebalancing via spot currency markets. Such mechanisms would be central to any CBDC linkage, as uneven trade flows could otherwise create persistent surpluses or shortages of certain digital currencies within the system.
How This Fits Into the Global CBDC Debate
Interest in central bank digital currencies has cooled in some regions as stablecoins gain traction, but India remains firmly committed to its CBDC strategy. RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said last month that CBDCs “do not pose many of the risks associated with stablecoins,” warning that stablecoins raise concerns around monetary stability, fiscal policy and banking systems. Indian authorities fear widespread stablecoin use could fragment domestic payments and weaken existing digital infrastructure.
That concern helps explain why India sees CBDCs as a controlled alternative for both domestic use and cross-border experimentation. For now, the BRICS proposal remains at an early stage. Even if it reaches the summit agenda, turning political intent into operational links will take years. The long road ahead mirrors earlier BRICS ambitions—from a shared currency to deeper financial coordination—that struggled to move beyond concept. Still, the proposal shows that CBDCs remain part of the geopolitical and payments debate, even as markets move quickly toward private digital money. For India, the priority appears less about rewriting the global monetary order and more about securing a place in how cross-border payments function in a more fragmented world.