Why BRICS Is Focusing on Payment Interoperability Instead of Creating a Common Currency

BRICS payments are becoming an important part of discussions about cross-border trade and financial cooperation. For a while, there was a persistent rumor in global finance circles that BRICS would launch its own currency, sometimes described as a “BRICS dollar,” to rival the US dollar. Instead of immediately creating a common currency, BRICS has increasingly focused on improving payment interoperability, supporting local-currency transactions, and making cross-border payments more efficient. This approach allows member countries to strengthen financial cooperation while retaining control over their individual national currencies.

At the bloc’s summit in New Delhi on September 12 to 13, 2026, that idea got quietly shelved. Instead of pursuing a common BRICS currency, what BRICS is actually building is something far less dramatic and, honestly, far more workable: a way to connect the payment systems each member country already has, so money can move between them without detouring through the dollar every single time.

Here’s why the bloc walked away from the common BRICS currency idea and put its weight behind interoperability instead.

1. A Shared Currency Asks Every Country to Give Up Too Much

A common BRICS currency, like the euro in Europe, only works if every country agrees to hand over control of its own interest rates and monetary decisions to one shared authority. That’s an enormous ask for eleven countries that don’t always agree on much else. BRICS payments interoperability solves the same basic problem (money moving smoothly between borders) without asking anyone to give up control of their own currency or central bank.

2. The Member Economies Are Simply Too Different

China runs on manufacturing and exports. Russia depends heavily on oil and gas. India’s economy leans on services and domestic spending. Trying to fit three (or eleven) fundamentally different economies under one shared common BRICS currency was never going to work smoothly, since a currency policy that helps one of them can actively hurt another.

3. Trust Between Members Isn’t Where It Needs to Be

Sharing a common BRICS currency requires a level of political trust that BRICS members simply don’t have with each other yet. India and China, in particular, have ongoing tensions that make the idea of pooling monetary sovereignty a hard sell, no matter how appealing a “BRICS dollar” might sound on paper.

4. The US Made the Cost of Trying Too High

US President Donald Trump publicly threatened 100% tariffs on BRICS if they launched a common currency to rival the dollar. The threat was enough. Countries that favored the idea, including Brazil, quietly abandoned the plan.

5. The Technology to Connect Payments Already Exists

Every BRICS country already runs its own payment system: India has UPI, Brazil has Pix, China has CIPS, Russia has SPFS and Mir. Right now, a payment between two of these countries usually has to be converted through the US dollar first, using SWIFT. BRICS payments infrastructure, through BRICS Pay (first proposed in 2018 and formally endorsed in 2024), is built to link these national systems directly, so a rupee-to-real transaction can settle without the dollar stepping in as the middleman.

6. India Has the Most to Gain From Staying Independent

India has been one of the loudest voices pushing for this approach over a common BRICS currency. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has pointed to UPI, which handles over 250 billion transactions a year and already operates in 11 countries outside India, as proof the model works. Part of the motivation isn’t purely technical either: a common BRICS currency would likely hand China outsized influence over the bloc’s monetary policy, given the size gap between the two economies. Staying on independent, connected rails lets India grow its financial footprint without handing that leverage over.

None of this makes BRICS payments interoperability easy. Getting eleven countries to align on KYC rules alone is a multi-year negotiation, not a quick fix, and lopsided trade (like India ending up with more rupees paid to Russia than Russia can easily use) shows how messy the details can get. BRICS Pay is still running small pilot programs, and the more realistic path forward looks like bilateral links expanding one pair at a time, rather than one system switching on for every member at once.

But the direction is clear. BRICS isn’t trying to replace the dollar overnight, and it isn’t trying to replace SWIFT either. It’s building a second lane for BRICS payments and trade between its own members, one that doesn’t require anyone to give up control of their money to use it.

Key Regulatory Highlights-

BRICS payments can improve cross-border transactions by connecting national payment systems.

BRICS payments can support greater use of local currencies without requiring a single common currency.

Payment interoperability may help reduce dependence on traditional cross-border payment infrastructure.

BRICS payments require compatible technical standards, secure settlement systems, and strong regulatory coordination.

KYC, AML, data protection, and payment-security rules remain important for BRICS payments.

FAQs

What are BRICS payments?

BRICS payments refer to efforts to improve cross-border transactions among BRICS countries by connecting payment systems and supporting transactions in local currencies.

Why are BRICS payments focusing on interoperability?

BRICS payments focus on interoperability because connecting existing national payment systems may be more practical than creating a single common currency.

Statutory Citations & References

[1] P. Shankar, “What is BRICS Pay, and can it rival the West’s SWIFT payments system?,” Al Jazeera, Sept. 16, 2026. [Online]. Available: Link
[2] “BRICS,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. [Online]. Available: Link
[3] K. Ambey, “Goyal urges BRICS to trade in local currencies, link payment systems,” Business Standard, Sept. 11, 2026. [Online]. Available: Link
[4] M. Ferragamo, “What Is the BRICS Group and Why Is It Expanding?,” Council on Foreign Relations, updated June 26, 2025. [Online]. Available: Link
[5] Government of India, “BRICS 2026, India’s Presidency.” [Online]. Available: Link
[6] BRICS Information Centre, University of Toronto, “BRICS Summits.” [Online]. Available: Link
[7] Unsplash, “Woman Holding Android Smartphone.” [Online]. Available: Link