India is pushing for closer links between the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) of BRICS countries as the group prepares for its leaders’ summit in New Delhi on September 12–13, 2026.
The proposal aims to make cross-border payments between BRICS economies faster and more efficient by allowing their official digital currencies to interact more closely.
India is currently chairing BRICS and is expected to raise the issue at the summit. According to Reuters, the Reserve Bank of India has already proposed linking the digital currencies of BRICS members for cross-border trade.
Focus on payment interoperability
The proposal is part of a broader BRICS effort to improve the interoperability of national payment systems.
BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors said in a joint statement issued ahead of the summit that the group’s Payment Task Force should continue working on practical solutions for cross-border payments that are faster, cheaper, more accessible, efficient, transparent and secure.
The objective is therefore broader than CBDCs alone. BRICS is also working on connecting existing payment infrastructure and increasing the use of national currencies in international trade.
India’s CBDC proposal could become another layer of this emerging payment network.
No BRICS currency
The initiative should not be confused with the creation of a common BRICS currency.
India’s proposal is focused on connecting existing national digital currencies rather than replacing the Indian rupee, Chinese yuan, Russian ruble or other national currencies with a single BRICS currency.
Reuters reports that the purpose is to make international transactions easier and faster, rather than to replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
This distinction is important because discussions about a possible BRICS currency have repeatedly attracted attention, while concrete progress on such a common currency has remained limited.
Major technical challenges
A functioning cross-border CBDC network would require much more than simply connecting digital wallets.
BRICS countries use different financial systems, regulatory frameworks and payment infrastructures. A common technical framework would have to address settlement, foreign-exchange conversion, identity verification, anti-money-laundering requirements and data standards.
Currency-swap arrangements could also be required to deal with trade imbalances between participating countries, according to Reuters.
Political issues could be even more difficult.
The expanded BRICS group includes countries with very different geopolitical interests. Relations between some members remain strained, while India itself has security concerns regarding deeper financial connectivity with China.
BRICS payment infrastructure moves forward
The CBDC proposal comes alongside continued efforts to improve the wider BRICS payment infrastructure.
In their latest joint statement, BRICS finance chiefs called for greater interoperability between payment systems and instructed the BRICS Payment Task Force to continue developing practical solutions for cross-border transactions.
This suggests that the immediate focus is not necessarily the creation of a single new payment system, but connecting existing national systems and making them work more efficiently across borders.
For countries with large trade relationships inside BRICS, this could eventually reduce the need for multiple intermediaries in international payments.
Why the proposal matters
CBDCs are still primarily domestic payment instruments in most countries. A successful BRICS interoperability framework would therefore represent a significant step toward using central-bank digital currencies for international settlement.
India already has one of the world’s most advanced digital payment ecosystems through its Unified Payments Interface (UPI), while the Reserve Bank of India continues to develop the digital rupee.
Connecting this infrastructure with other national digital-currency systems would give India an opportunity to influence the standards used for future cross-border digital payments.
For the broader digital-asset industry, the development is also significant because it demonstrates how blockchain and distributed-ledger technologies are increasingly being explored by central banks and governments for regulated financial infrastructure.
However, a functioning BRICS CBDC network is not yet a reality. The current proposal still faces substantial technical, financial and geopolitical obstacles.
The BRICS summit in New Delhi could therefore be an important test of whether the idea moves from discussion toward concrete implementation.
Primary source: Press Information Bureau of the Government of India – BRICS payment-system cooperation