The story so far: The New Delhi Declaration that came out of the recent BRICS Summit in the national capital resolved to increase trade between member-countries and payments in national currencies. Days before the summit, a report by the news agency Reuters quoted sources as saying that at the event, India would push to link central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for cross-border payments across BRICS nations, despite political and technical hurdles that could limit progress. The proposal to link CBDCs would be part of the agenda for the leaders’ meeting, the sources said, though the limited adoption of digital currencies globally could complicate implementation, the report added. The proposal was, however, not part of the Declaration.

On the summit eve, Russia’s largest bank Sberbank said it saw major ‌opportunities for India-Russia bilateral trade settlements through CBDCs. At a media briefing in New Delhi, Sberbank chief executive officer Herman Gref said trade settlement in CBDCs was much ‌more efficient.

Multiple wars and U.S. weaponisation of the dollar through financial sanctions are making countries in the Global South think of bypassing the so-far universally accepted SWIFT system for inter-country payments. The attempts to do so have been patchy, but there is an increasingly felt need to have other options. Even on Thursday, the U.S. Senate empowered President Donald Trump to impose 100% tariffs on countries such as India and China that buy Russian oil or gas.

What are some of the alternatives to the Belgium-based SWIFT payment system?

Project mBridge is a group comprising the Bank of Thailand, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, the Digital Currency Institute of the People’s Bank of China, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and the Saudi Central Bank.

The Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), a Reuters report said, is backed by the People’s Bank of China. China launched the CIPS clearing and settlement services system in 2015 to internationalise yuan use. It allows global banks to clear cross-border yuan transactions directly onshore, instead of through clearing banks in offshore yuan hubs, the report said.

The System for Transfer of Financial Messages, or SPFS, was developed by Russia in 2014 to bypass Western sanctions. In 2022, Russian banks were cut off from SWIFT, and the SPFS was of help.

SEPAMA, Iran’s local interbank telecom system, has as many as 52 branches of Iranian banks and four unnamed foreign banks connect ing with 106 banks using the SPFS, the Central Bank of Iran said in 2023.

How are these systems faring?

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an international financial institution owned by central banks to foster international monetary and financial cooperation, exited Project mBridge on October 31, 2024, after hand-holding it since 2019, when the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank of Thailand launched the system. mBridge, a cross-bloc multi-CBDC platform with no Western bank, attained minimum viability status in 2024. It was envisaged for direct peer-to-peer CBDC settlement without going through correspondent banks. The project team developed a new blockchain — the mBridge Ledger — custom-built by central banks to serve as a specialised and flexible platform for implementation of multi-currency cross-border payments in CBDCs, the BIS website says.

The BIS’s exit came under a cloud, with media reports saying it was because mBridge could provide the basis for a BRICS initiative to circumvent sanctions on Russia. A May 2016 Forbes report said that by late 2025, mBridge was in practice “a renminbi-denominated wholesale settlement rail for trade between China and the Gulf, running outside the dollar correspondent system”.

The remnimbi’s inclusion in the basket of currencies making up the Special Drawing Right, an international reserve asset created by the International Monetary Fund, has increased the acceptance of CIPS, which currently has participants in more than 120 countries, including all BRICS members with the exception of India, said a November 2025 opinion piece in The Hindu by Biswajit Dhar, a trade economist and former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

A March 19, 2026 South China Morning Post report says CIPS processed 679.8 billion yuan ($98.7 billion) of transactions on average per day in 2025, just a fraction of the $1.9 trillion of domestic and international payments Chips settles each business day. “While the CIPS has gained ground — especially among China’s trading partners in Africa and Asia — it remains far smaller in scale than established global systems, such as the U.S.-based Clearing House Interbank Payments System (Chips),” the report said. Beijing now appears to be moving towards building CIPS into a global platform compliant with multi-currency settlements and other foreign payment channels, the report quoted a study led by Ju Jiandong, a chair professor at Tsinghua University’s PBC School of Finance.

The SPFS, formed as Russian entities were banned from SWIFT, has grown at a record pace in 2023, the Russian central bank said that year, as Moscow ramped up efforts to resolve financial shortcomings wrought by sanctions over the Ukraine war. Alla Bakina, director of the central bank’s national payment system department, said 50 new entities had joined Russia’s alternative system that year, taking the total number to 440, of which more than 100 are non-residents.

The SPFS has been linked with Iran’s SEPAM, and entities in the Russian network can connect with Iranian banks.

How do India-Russia trade settlements happen now?

Russia and India, the second-largest importer of Russian oil, have built a functioning payments infrastructure using roubles and rupees, which now account for 96% of ‌bilateral trade, Ivan Nosov, head of Sberbank in India, said. “There are no problems with settlements between Russia and India. I am ready to say that this is one of the most reliable and best-established mechanisms for Russia’s payments with other countries,” he said.

According to official data, 22 Russian banks, including ⁠Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, which was tasked with developing the payments infrastructure, and 17 Indian banks are currently servicing bilateral trade, a Reuters report said.

Published – September 19, 2026 10:59 am IST

India forged a consensus of BRICS countries on Saturday (September 12, 2026), after Iran and the United Arab Emirates agreed to a last-minute compromise on the language used about the war in West Asia, allowing the 11-member grouping to adopt the New Delhi Declaration at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Also Read: BRICS 2026 beyond the Declaration: An Indian feast, Bollywood tunes by the Malaysian PM, and more

The statement — that did not directly mention the attacks against Iran by the United States and Israel nor Iran’s subsequent strikes on its Persian Gulf neighbours, including the UAE — called for “maximum restraint” in the war. It made no separate mention of the Russian war in Ukraine.  

The meeting was attended by the leaders of eight member countries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and the leaders of Indonesia, Ethiopia, Egypt, and South Africa. Brazil and the UAE sent high-level representatives. 

‘Not against anyone’

Addressing the leaders, Mr. Modi said that 20 years after the grouping of emerging economies was originally formed, BRICS was “coming of age” with a “distinct identity” not aimed against others on the global stage. 

“We respect each other’s perspectives and move forward through consensus. We strive to move ahead with an approach that is not against anyone but instead seeks to take everyone along,” the Prime Minister said, in a possible reference to the criticism of BRICS in the U.S. as an “anti-western” grouping.

Mr. Modi suggested that BRICS build a “troika” system like the G-20, so incoming and outgoing Presidents of the grouping bring continuity to discussions. He also proposed a roadmap for global governance reform, a seafarer distress network, and a BRICS global south mechanism for skill development in new technologies.  The New Delhi declaration called for “comprehensive reform” of the United Nations, including support for Brazil and India to get a bigger role in the Security Council.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who held an hour-long bilateral meeting with Mr. Modi after the session, announced that China would take over the presidency of BRICS for the next year. The grouping had become the “world’s most influential platform for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries,” he said.

Delicate diplomacy

The joint declaration also called for the protection of civilians and expressed “deep concern” over attacks on civilian infrastructure and nuclear facilities in West Asia, in a reference to the U.S. and Israel’s missile strikes in Iran.

The paragraphs on the war in Iran took delicate diplomacy by Indian negotiators at “various levels”, said officials, and was forged after overnight negotiations and talks between Mr. Modi and the leaders of Iran, Russia, and the UAE. In a rare diplomatic breakthrough, Iran’s President, Mr. Pezeshkian met with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the summit at Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam official venue. 

Strong criticism of Israel

Significantly, given India’s close ties with Israel and Mr. Modi’s own visit to Jerusalem in February, the grouping declared its strong criticism of Israel for its bombardment of Gaza. It expressed support for South Africa’s case against Israel in international courts, calling for the provision of humanitarian aid in Gaza, where more than 70,000 civilians are believed to have been killed.

In addition, it supported a two-state solution for Palestine, with full rights at the UN, 1967 borders, and East Jerusalem as its capital. In an extended 8-paragraph reference to Israeli actions, it slammed the “forced displacement, temporary or permanent, under any pretext, of any of the Palestinian population from the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.  

It also criticised the U.S. blockade of Cuba, and expressed concern over violence in Sudan. 

On economic issues, the BRICS countries resolved to increase intra-BRICS trade and payments in national currencies. Taking aim at the U.S. for its tariffs and western countries for their unilateral sanctions, the joint statement said that BRICS countries “condemned the imposition of unilateral coercive measures that are contrary to international law”.  

Compromise and consensus

Previous ministerial meetings of BRICS this year had failed to issue joint statements on the Iran-UAE tussle. Sources privy to the negotiations said that Iran had wanted a strong condemnation of the U.S. and Israel for starting the war with strikes that assassinated its Supreme Leader, similar to the statement issued by the SCO grouping, which does not include the UAE. The UAE wanted “equal condemnation” of Iran’s attacks against its neighbours. Eventually, the text agreed to included non-specific references to the conflict. 

The consensus was achieved through months of “threadbare” discussions, according to Sudhakar Dalela, Indian Sherpa at the talks and Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs. He was addressing a media briefing after the closed BRICS session on the future of global governance and strengthening multilateralism. Side-stepping a question from The Hindu on whether India had asked for support from other leaders in BRICS to help convince Iran and UAE to agree to the draft language, he said that the cooperation and collaboration of all members was “key”.

“In preparation of the BRICS summit, we have been discussing the Middle East situation (West Asia) for some time. In a grouping where members have diverse experiences, it is important to allow members to have a shared forum, and within that framework to build consensus,” Mr. Dalela said. He also underlined BRICS countries’ consensus against cross-border terrorism, with a specif reference to the Pahalgam terror attack in 2025. 

On Sunday, Mr. Modi will chair a session of BRICS Plus countries and regional representatives for an outreach session that will include the leaders of Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Uganda, Vietnam, and Kazakhstan. 

Published – September 12, 2026 11:29 pm IST