India’s central bank has proposed that BRICS countries explore linking their official digital currencies to facilitate cross-border trade and tourism payments, according to a Reuters report citing sources familiar with the discussions. The initiative, if taken forward, would place CBDC interoperability firmly on the geopolitical agenda and adds new context to Europe’s own debate over the future role of the digital euro in international payments.
According to Reuters, the Reserve Bank of India has recommended that the Indian government include a proposal on connecting BRICS central bank digital currencies on the agenda of the 2026 BRICS summit, which India is set to host. The sources, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said the plan would be formally discussed for the first time if accepted.
BRICS, originally formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China and later joined by South Africa, has since expanded to include countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Indonesia. While the bloc has previously floated ideas ranging from local currency trade settlement to a shared currency, those efforts have struggled to gain traction.
Interoperability before geopolitics
The RBI proposal builds on a 2025 BRICS declaration calling for greater interoperability between national payment systems. Extending that logic to CBDCs would require common technical standards, governance frameworks and mechanisms to manage trade imbalances.
None of the core BRICS members has yet fully launched a retail CBDC, but all are running pilot programmes. India’s e-rupee has attracted around seven million retail users since its launch in December 2022, while China has repeatedly signalled ambitions to expand the international use of the digital yuan.
Indian officials have stressed publicly that linking the e-rupee with other CBDCs is intended to improve payment efficiency rather than explicitly promote de-dollarisation. That distinction matters geopolitically. The United States has warned against initiatives seen as bypassing the dollar, and President Donald Trump has previously described BRICS as “anti-American”, threatening tariffs on countries aligning with the bloc.
Why this matters for Europe
For European policymakers, the Reuters report underscores how CBDCs are increasingly being viewed as potential tools for cross-border settlement, not just domestic payment instruments. The European Central Bank has consistently framed the digital euro as a means of strengthening Europe’s payment sovereignty and reducing reliance on non-European card schemes, while avoiding overt geopolitical positioning.
A BRICS-led attempt to link multiple sovereign CBDCs would test whether interoperability across jurisdictions with very different legal, technical and political systems is feasible. That experience could inform the ECB’s own thinking on how, and whether, a future digital euro might interact with other CBDCs beyond the euro area.
The RBI’s emphasis on governance rules, interoperable technology and settlement mechanisms mirrors challenges already familiar in Europe. ECB officials have repeatedly highlighted that cross-border use of CBDCs raises complex questions around monetary sovereignty, capital flows, compliance and supervision.
Lessons from past frictions
Reuters notes that earlier efforts by India and Russia to expand trade settlement in local currencies ran into difficulties when Russia accumulated large rupee balances with limited uses. To avoid similar problems, sources said BRICS officials are exploring bilateral foreign exchange swap arrangements between central banks, with periodic settlement of imbalances.
The report also highlights potential delays stemming from reluctance among members to adopt technological platforms developed by other countries, a challenge that resonates with European debates over digital infrastructure dependence and strategic autonomy.
For Europe, the BRICS discussion serves as a reminder that CBDC design choices made today could shape future cross-border payment architectures. While the ECB has so far prioritised domestic resilience and pan-European acceptance, global experiments like this one may increasingly influence how central banks think about interoperability, standards and the international role of digital public money.
Related: Germany’s Bundesbank and Singapore’s MAS Sign MoU to Advance Tokenised Cross-Border Settlement