India is pushing for BRICS members to explore linking their central-bank digital currencies for cross-border payments at the leaders' summit in New Delhi on September 12-13, Reuters reported on September 10 citing people familiar with the discussions. The proposal is about connecting official digital currencies, not creating a single BRICS currency.
The potential benefit is faster and cheaper settlement between participating economies, especially if payment systems can exchange value without routing every transaction through multiple correspondent banks. But interoperability is not simply a software problem. Countries need compatible technical standards, legal rules, identity and compliance systems, exchange-rate arrangements and enough actual CBDC adoption to make the network useful.
The geopolitical context adds another constraint. BRICS members have different sanctions exposure, capital controls, security concerns and relationships with the dollar-based financial system. India has also been careful to frame payment connectivity as an efficiency project rather than a plan to replace the dollar as the global reserve currency. For UPSC, the key distinction is between CBDC interoperability, a common currency and de-dollarisation.