The Central Bank of India has allegedly brought forward that the BRICS countries connect their official digital currencies to optimise cross-border trade and tourism payments.
If achieved, this move could also minimise reliance on the USD as geopolitical tensions increase, according to two sources familiar with the matter cited by Reuters, who requested anonymity due to not being authorised to share the information publicly.
The Reserve Bank of India has suggested to the government that a proposal linking the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) be included on the agenda for the 2026 BRICS summit, which will be hosted by India later in 2026.
If the central bank’s advices are accepted, a proposal to connect the digital currencies of BRICS members, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, would be introduced for the first time.
At the time of writing, the Reserve Bank of India, India’s central government, and the central banks of Brazil and Russia did not respond to requests for comment. Additionally, as a response to a Reuters request, the People’s Bank of China stated that it held no information to share on the subject, while the South African central bank declined to provide details on the matter at hand.
Furthermore, even if none of the BRICS members have fully rolled out their digital currencies, all of them have been conducting pilot projects.
Background on RBI’s proposition
The current initiative brought up by the Reserve Bank of India follows a declaration from 2025 at a BRICS summit held in Rio de Janeiro. At that time, the declaration encouraged interoperability between members’ payment systems to optimise cross-border transactions.
Furthermore, India’s central bank shared its interest in connecting India’s digital rupee with other nations’ CBDCs to make cross-border transactions more efficient and scale its currency’s usage across the world. However, its push to support the rupee’s global usage is not meant to promote de-dollarisation.
