The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formally recommended that the Indian government place a proposal to interconnect the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) of BRICS nations on the agenda for the 2026 summit, which India is set to host. This ambitious plan aims to create a technical framework for linking the digital currencies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, fundamentally transforming cross-border trade and tourism payments by enabling direct currency conversion without relying on the U.S. dollar as an intermediary.
The proposal builds upon language from the 2025 BRICS Rio de Janeiro declaration, which backed greater interoperability between members' payment systems. The RBI has publicly signaled interest in linking the digital rupee with other CBDCs to speed up cross-border payments and expand the rupee's global usage, though it stresses this push is not explicitly intended to drive de-dollarization. The initiative lands as BRICS members collectively account for approximately 42% of the world's population and 31% of global GDP, seeking financial sovereignty and reduced exposure to U.S. monetary policy and exchange rate volatility.
However, significant groundwork remains. None of the core BRICS members has fully launched a CBDC, with each still in the pilot phase. India's e-rupee pilot has reached about 7 million retail users since December 2022. Execution hinges on resolving shared technical standards, governance rules, and a mechanism to settle trade imbalances—a problem highlighted by earlier complications in Russia-India local-currency trade where Russia accumulated large, unusable rupee balances.
The RBI also frames its CBDC push as a regulated alternative to private stablecoins, warning that widespread stablecoin use could threaten financial stability and trust in money. The proposal carries profound geopolitical dimensions, potentially drawing criticism from Washington, and aligns with broader BRICS efforts to create alternative financial infrastructure. If approved, implementation would likely extend through the late 2020s, requiring extensive collaboration to navigate technical, regulatory, and political hurdles.
