BRICS Finance Ministers to Weigh Cheaper Payments Before the New Delhi Summit

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair a meeting of BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors on 1–2 September at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, ten days before India hosts the grouping’s leaders. Officials say the session is meant to turn months of technical talk into language that can go to the summit on 12–13 September: cheaper cross-border payments, more trade in national currencies, and possible links between instant-payment systems and central bank digital currencies. India also intends to press for more balanced trade inside the 11-member bloc.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (Photo: PTI) | Business Standard

What the finance track is being asked to deliver

The first finance-track meeting under India’s 2026 chairship was held in Jaipur on 12–13 August. Sitharaman opened it under the year’s theme, Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability. The early-September follow-up is expected to sharpen two options. One would connect domestic fast-payment networks already in daily use, such as India’s Unified Payments Interface, Brazil’s Pix, Russia’s SPFS and China’s CIPS. The other would explore interoperability among central bank digital currencies, including the e-rupee, the digital yuan, Brazil’s DREX and work under way in the United Arab Emirates.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra has said both ideas are still at the discussion stage. No common infrastructure or timetable has been approved. Indian sources present the work as a way to cut fees and settlement time for trade and investment, not as a campaign to replace the dollar or to launch a single BRICS currency. That distinction matters, because some members have long spoken of reducing dollar dependence, while New Delhi has preferred practical links that companies and travellers can use.

Local-currency settlement is already common on some routes. China–Russia and China–Iran trade is widely reported to clear in yuan, rubles and other national units. India–Russia trade is often described as settling mostly in rupees, rubles and yuan. A multi-CBDC experiment associated with the Bank for International Settlements, known as mBridge, had by late 2025 processed thousands of transactions worth tens of billions of dollars. A separate retail idea branded BRICS Pay has been discussed as a way to join QR and instant-payment rails. None of this amounts to a shared money. It is plumbing. Whether ministers can agree even a modest package on that plumbing is the test for the first week of September.

The summit those proposals are meant to feed

The 18th BRICS Summit will gather the 11 full members, ten partner countries and outreach guests at Bharat Mandapam. India assumed the chair on 1 January 2026, its fourth turn after 2012, 2016 and 2021, in the year the grouping marks two decades since it was founded. China takes the chair at the end of 2026. The full members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Partners named last year include Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Together the full members account for nearly half the world’s population, about 40 per cent of global GDP and about 26 per cent of world trade. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are among the leaders expected in Delhi. Ten partner governments have been invited. Officials say the response has been encouraging. Saudi Arabia, which has not completed formal membership, continues to engage.

Under the Indian chairship the External Affairs Ministry says more than 350 meetings have been held in over 25 Indian cities across three pillars: political and security, economic and financial, and people-to-people exchange. Listed outcomes include centres of excellence on agro-ecology, a digital agriculture network, work on seeds, skills, smart grids and energy storage, a portal for small and medium enterprises, cooperation on global value chains, and consideration of a start-up innovation fund. Those files sit beside the finance track. They do not by themselves settle how members pay one another.

The political text that could still snag the week

Officials hope the summit can still produce a consensus declaration, including on West Asia. Both Iran and the UAE sit in the room. Draft thinking described this week points to familiar general language: dialogue and diplomacy, territorial integrity, intra-BRICS trade, free maritime commerce, and protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Writing that language is easier than getting every capital to sign it.

A foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi on 14–15 May ended without a joint statement after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and UAE Minister of State Khalifa bin Shaheen Al Marar clashed over the war that began in late February. Iran wanted condemnation of the United States and Israel. The UAE wanted condemnation of Iranian strikes on Gulf territory and energy sites. India issued a chair’s statement and a long outcome document that recorded differing views among some members and listed principles without naming parties. A deputy-minister meeting in April had already failed the same test. Since late February the grouping has not issued a single agreed line on the war. Shipping through Hormuz and other waterways has been part of the argument because freight and insurance costs feed straight into the trade bill the finance ministers say they want to shrink. Consensus is the group’s rule. That is why a chair’s statement in May is not the same as a leaders’ declaration in September.

The MGMM Outlook 

India’s BRICS chairship reflects a practical push toward making trade and cross-border payments faster, cheaper, and more efficient rather than pursuing the idea of a single BRICS currency. The upcoming meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in New Delhi is expected to focus on linking national payment systems, expanding local-currency settlements, and exploring interoperability between central bank digital currencies. By emphasizing technological cooperation and balanced trade, India is positioning BRICS as a platform for real economic solutions that can benefit businesses, investors, and ordinary travellers across member nations.

At the same time, the success of the New Delhi Summit will depend on the bloc’s ability to balance economic cooperation with geopolitical differences. While disagreements over West Asia remain a challenge, India’s emphasis on dialogue, resilience, innovation, and sustainable growth offers a constructive path forward. A meaningful agreement on payment connectivity and financial cooperation would strengthen BRICS’ role in the evolving global economy and reinforce India’s growing leadership in shaping inclusive and practical multilateral partnerships.

(Sources: Business Standard, The Hindu BusinessLine)