India Proposes Integrating BRICS Digital Currencies Without Direct Rival to U.S. Dollar

Source: Brasil 247 | Original Published At: 2026-09-10 18:28:43 UTC

Key Points

• India plans to propose at the BRICS leaders summit in New Delhi that member countries connect their central bank digital currencies to facilitate international payments.
• New Delhi favors bilateral connections and local-currency settlement rather than a unified BRICS payment system that could be interpreted as a rival to the U.S. dollar and SWIFT.
• The proposed model could reduce the role of intermediary banks, lower transaction costs, and make international transfers faster.
• An Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said it was premature to anticipate the outcome of finance ministers and central bank talks, describing India's BRICS financial cooperation stance as development-oriented.
• China and Russia are also testing central bank digital currencies, while India is conducting a digital rupee pilot.
• BRICS members have expanded local-currency trade since Russian banks were excluded from SWIFT, with much of India-Russia trade now settled in rupees and rubles.