India’s central bank has proposed that Brics countries link their official digital currencies to facilitate cross-border trade and tourism payments, a move that could gradually reduce reliance on the US dollar amid rising geopolitical tensions, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
The Reserve Bank of India has recommended to the Indian government that a proposal to connect central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) of Brics nations be placed on the agenda for the 2026 Brics summit, the sources said. They requested anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly.
India is set to host the summit later this year. If the recommendation is accepted, it would mark the first formal proposal within the bloc to link the digital currencies of Brics members for cross-border usage. The Brics grouping includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, among other members.
Such an initiative could draw opposition from the United States, which has repeatedly warned against efforts to bypass the dollar. US President Donald Trump has previously described the Brics alliance as “Anti-American” and has threatened to impose tariffs on member countries.
The RBI, the Indian government, and the central banks of Brazil and Russia did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. China’s central bank said it had no information to share, while South Africa’s central bank declined to comment. Reuters noted that the RBI’s proposal to link Brics CBDCs for trade finance and tourism payments has not been reported earlier.
Building Interoperability Among BRICS
The RBI’s proposal builds on commitments made at the 2025 Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro, where member countries pushed for greater interoperability among their domestic payment systems to improve the efficiency of cross-border transactions.
The RBI has earlier stated publicly that it is exploring the possibility of linking India’s digital rupee with other countries’ CBDCs to speed up cross-border payments and gradually enhance the international use of the rupee. At the same time, the central bank has emphasised that its efforts to promote the rupee globally are not explicitly aimed at de-dollarisation.
While none of the Brics countries has fully rolled out a retail CBDC, all five core members are running pilot programmes. India’s digital currency, the e-rupee, has attracted about 7 million retail users since its launch in December 2022. China, meanwhile, has signalled its intent to expand the international usage of the digital Yuan.
The RBI has been actively encouraging adoption of the E-Rupee by enabling offline transactions, introducing programmability for government subsidy transfers, and allowing fintech firms to offer digital currency wallets. These measures, the central bank has said, are aimed at strengthening the digital payments ecosystem while preparing the ground for future cross-border linkages.