BRICS’s approach to the dollar looks less like rebellion and more like risk management. No member has proposed replacing the dollar outright. What they are doing instead is more incremental, building payment systems that let trade happen instead of depending entirely on foreign currency, and pushing the NDB to finance in local currencies so member states are not left repaying infrastructure loans in a currency that can weaken their debt overnight.
The debate over BRICS and the dollar has often centred on whether the bloc could create a common currency. But at the 2026 summit, the more immediate shift was not towards a new currency, but towards making cross-border payments work more efficiently in national currencies.
The leaders emphasized the need of making cross border payments faster, more accessible and cheaper. BRICS’s Payment Task Force was directed to keep building payment mechanisms and promote trade settlements and investments using local currencies. MEA Secretary and India’s BRICS Sherpa, Sudhakar Dalela, ruled out the possibilities of a common currency emphasizing local-currency settlement as a practical mechanism which reduces transactional cost in bilateral trade. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also backed usage of national currencies by saying that diversified payment infrastructure could make BRICS economies more resilient to geopolitical and financial shocks.
As India hosted BRICS this year, it has been one of the strongest voices ruling out a common currency while simultaneously pushing rupee-based settlement. The mechanism dates back to 2022, when the RBI first allowed Indian banks to open Special Rupee Vostro accounts for trading partners so that foreign buyers could pay in rupees instead of dollars. Since then, India has used it to settle trade with Russia, Sri Lanka and Mauritius, and has explored its use for energy payments as well. The rupee, however barely registers in global trade invoicing, a fraction of a per cent against the dollar’s overwhelming share. So when Dalela calls local-currency settlement “practical”, he is describing precisely the kind of mechanism India has spent years building. For India, the push for local-currency settlements therefore fits into an existing effort to expand the use of the rupee in international trade.
The push towards adopting alternatives to dollars has been there for a long time now. BRICS has been discussing local-currency settlements and cross-border payment mechanisms for years, but recent geopolitical shocks with regards to West Asia have made its strategic importance more visible. Further, Trump’s repeated tariff threats have increased the vulnerabilities for the global south. For countries vulnerable to such disruptions, building alternative payment infrastructure is a way to reduce exposure to external financial and geopolitical shocks.
The BRICS nations form one of the largest blocs, which covers roughly 40% of world’s GDP and around 26% of global trade. When two member countries settle a trade deal in rupees or Yuan instead of converting through dollars, they avoid transaction costs and speed up settlement. India’s Reserve Bank has permitted 123 correspondent banks from 30 trading partner countries to open 156 Special Rupee Vostro Accounts with 26 Indian banks, letting exporters and importers settle bilateral trade directly in rupees. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov confirmed in 2025 that 99% of Russia-China trade settlements now run through rubles and yuan alone. Meanwhile, China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) processed 175 trillion yuan in cross-border renminbi transactions in 2024, a 43% increase from the previous year. By December 2024, it had 168 direct and 1,461 indirect participants across 119 countries and regions. These developments illustrate the expanding capacity to conduct cross-border transactions through channels beyond conventional dollar-based arrangements.
Beyond trade, BRICS is also seeking to extend the role of local currencies to development finance through the New Development Bank (NDB). The BRICS leaders have called for the bank to expand financing in local currencies, mobilizing resources, fostering innovation and supporting impactful projects and promoting infrastructure development and economic integration. When the NDB lends in dollars, a borrower whose domestic currency depreciates against the dollar faces higher repayment costs in domestic-currency terms. Local-currency financing can reduce this exchange-rate risk, particularly when a project generates revenues in the same currency as the loan. However, it does not eliminate every financial risk.
Progress toward that has been gradual. Its 2022-2026 General Strategy formally set a target of 30% of total financing in members’ own currencies by the end of this cycle. At its 11th Annual Meeting in Moscow in May 2026, Russian Finance minister, who also chairs NDB’s Board of Governors, Anton Siluanov announced that the share of projects financed in local currencies which currently stands at 30% will exceed to 45% by 2031.
BRICS’s approach to the dollar looks less like rebellion and more like risk management. No member has proposed replacing the dollar outright. What they are doing instead is more incremental, building payment systems that let trade happen instead of depending entirely on foreign currency, and pushing the NDB to finance in local currencies so member states are not left repaying infrastructure loans in a currency that can weaken their debt overnight. What BRICS has chosen instead of a rival currency is quieter and more durable, a set of practical tools that reduce dependence without ever declaring departure.
References
- Russia and China’s Trade in National Currencies: Russia and China Settle 99% of Trade in National Currencies – Politics Today
- China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System: Issue Brief – Internationalization of the RMB: An Emerging Competitor to the US Dollar
- Russia’s SPFS: Russia’s SPFS: The Alternative to SWIFT
- India’s Special Vostro Accounts: RBI allows 156 vostro accounts with 26 banks for rupee trade settlement | Finance News – Business Standard
- New Development Bank: New Development Bank: Building an Alternative Inside the Existing Global Order
- De-dollarisation in BRICS: Strategic Ambition or Practical Gradualism?
- Regarding BRICS currency: No Common Currency, But BRICS Gives De-Dollarisation A Push Through NDB: What It Means | India News – News18
- Sanctions on Iran: US sanctions on Iran: Why China matters, how Tehran could respond and what it means for India – CNBC TV18
- Sanctions on Russia: Ukraine conflict: What is Swift and why is banning Russia so significant?
- Global trade through Strait of Hormuz: Strait of Hormuz: How much global trade flows through it
- New Delhi Declaration: BRICS New Delhi Declaration: Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability (September 12, 2026) | Prime Minister of India
- Iranian Ministers backing national currency trade: Iran FM Araghchi backs national currency trade in BRICS, praises India’s leadership