RBI Proposes Linking Digital Currencies Of BRICS Member Countries: Report

Adding to its global digital transactions push, India has reportedly proposed that BRICS countries link their official digital currencies.

A unified digital currency would aid in cross-border trade and travel payments between the member countries, Reuters reported citing unnamed sources.

As per the report, the RBI has recommended that the five member countries of the coalition — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — connect their central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), pushing for it to be proposed during the upcoming 2026 BRICS summit set to be held in India.

The idea for a unified CBDC was first floated during last year’s BRICS summit held in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, as per Reuters. Back then, member states had collectively declared that interoperability between the payment systems of member countries would simplify cross-border transactions, making them more efficient and business friendly.

It should be noted that none of the five countries have fully operating CBDCs but have pilot projects running at different stages of development and adoption. However, the introduction of a unified CBDC could open up use cases for the digital rupee and bolster the currency’s global usage. The e-rupee has amassed around 7 Mn retail users since launching in December 2022, as per Indian government data.

Members are currently hesitant to adopt platforms built by other countries, which could serve as a roadblock for the proposal’s success. While discussing the proposal, important points to consider will include interoperable technology, governance rules and ways to settle imbalanced trade volumes.

Imbalance in trade volumes have historically hindered efforts by BRICS nations to conduct bilateral trade in local currencies.

RBI’s Continued CBDC Push

Despite being in public circulation for over three years, retail adoption of the e-rupee has been slow in India. CBDC interest in other countries has been similarly fading as users continue banking on stablecoins as a preferred mode of payment.

India has continued to position its CBDC as a safer and better regulated alternative to privately-issued stablecoins with continued efforts to push usage among financial institutions. Last month, RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said CBDCs do not pose many of the same risks as stablecoins, adding that the latter “raises significant concerns for monetary stability, fiscal policy, banking intermediation and systemic resilience,” while facilitating illicit activities by circumventing control mechanisms.

The RBI had launched a CBDC retail sandbox in October 2025 to increase access to the digital currency. While only a handful of pilot banks could test the CBDC earlier, the sandbox allowed fintech players to also access APIs, build prototypes, and test products in a secure, simulated environment.

The move allows fintech startups to create new use cases, improve customer experience, and add value to ongoing pilots by experimenting in a secure and simulated environment.

The central bank is also pushing e-rupee adoption by conceptualising a new financial market infrastructure called the Unified Markets Interface (UMI) that will enable tokenisation of financial assets and settlements using wholesale CBDC, making such transactions more transparent and efficient through smart contracts.