BRICS Pay Gets Political Backing in New Delhi, but Remains a Pilot
BRICS leaders committed to expanding local-currency trading and cross-border payment systems by investing in BRICS Pay at the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13. The commitment, reported on September 16, 2026, puts political weight behind a project still in pilot and phased rollout, and not yet globally operational for all members. Al Jazeera
BRICS Pay is a decentralised digital payment ecosystem developed to simplify payments between BRICS countries. It is designed to connect the national payment systems of member countries to each other for international payments. Trade transactions between two different countries could then be processed in local currencies without using currencies such as the US dollar.
The project traces to the BRICS Business Council, which proposed it in 2018 and officially endorsed it in 2024. As of September 16, 2026, it remains in testing and incremental deployment. It is not yet operational across the bloc.
The technical proposition is interoperability rather than a single currency or single clearinghouse. BRICS Pay plans to settle payments in local currencies using QR codes and digital wallets. According to its official website, it connects national and commercial payment systems across BRICS+ nations and is designed to interoperate with systems including SBP, UPI, Pix and WeChat Pay. BRICS Pay
That site describes a decentralized architecture with no single point of failure, DAO governance for open, transparent and equitable decision-making, and a scalable fractal design for fast deployment and low computation. It also states full compliance with AML, KYC and local regulations is required, and frames the goal as reducing reliance on third-party financial messaging systems.
For firms, the offer includes a B2B service that enables direct, secure and efficient business-to-business settlements between companies in BRICS+ nations using national currencies. BRICS Pay B2B Documentation for its Decentralised Cross-Border Messaging System, or DCMS, describes it as able to serve as a complement to centralized systems such as SWIFT, SPFS and CIPS, or replace them. Current public messaging is narrower. According to the BRICS Pay website as summarized on September 16, the system is meant to offer a compatible option for SWIFT, Visa and Mastercard, not to replace them. The same summary describes BRICS Pay as strategic infrastructure that can also be used by friendly states of BRICS countries.
The institutional scaffolding is now multi-layered. The BRICS Payments Task Force functions as a collaborative central bank expert platform focused on cross-border payment mechanisms. In August 2026, BRICS finance ministers and central bank officials met in Jaipur, India, to discuss advancing BRICS Pay. In January 2026, India's central bank proposed that BRICS countries link their official digital currencies to facilitate cross-border trade and tourism, according to sources cited by Reuters. Reuters
The bloc now counts 11 members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. That composition matters for payments. It combines large commodity exporters and importers, divergent exchange-rate regimes, and national payment rails at very different levels of maturity.
SWIFT, in this setting, is the incumbent reference point. It is a messaging hub for clearing and settlement systems in payments, securities and foreign exchange. According to its official site, SWIFT provides solutions to ensure secure, smooth and reliable payment transactions, and states it is transforming payments to create a seamless, secure and inclusive global financial ecosystem. Earlier signals around the edges of that system include JPMorgan flagging some signs of emerging de-dollarisation in June 2023 while the dollar remained the top currency, and Saudi Arabia joining a BIS- and China-led central bank digital currency cross-border trial in June 2024. Reuters
The broader context here is sovereignty versus efficiency. For BRICS finance ministries and central banks, settlement in local currencies promises lower exposure to third-country currency volatility and third-party messaging risk. The cost is complexity. Netting, liquidity provision, foreign-exchange pricing, and dispute resolution across 11 currencies and legal systems require more than messaging. QR codes and wallets solve the last mile. The harder work sits in correspondent arrangements, compliance checks, and intraday liquidity.
Looking at what this means for Western financial architecture, the near-term question is coexistence, not displacement. BRICS Pay's own current formulation stresses compatibility with SWIFT, Visa and Mastercard. Its technical documentation preserves a more maximal option. That duality allows member governments to signal autonomy to domestic audiences while reassuring firms and banks that existing rails will continue to function. For treasury and compliance officers, the practical test will be whether pilots produce repeatable, auditable settlement with predictable fees and settlement times.
For diplomacy, Jaipur and New Delhi indicate sequencing. Central bank technicians meet first. Leaders then bless further investment. The January proposal to link official digital currencies points to a parallel track that could either feed into BRICS Pay or compete with it for attention and resources. How the Task Force reconciles national fast-payment systems, card networks, and potential central bank digital currency bridges will determine whether BRICS Pay becomes shared plumbing or a label for bilateral linkages.
Pilot status leaves leverage with skeptics. Until transaction volumes, corridors, and rulebooks are published, BRICS Pay functions as much as a negotiating position as a payments system. If phased rollout expands corridor by corridor, with clear AML and KYC enforcement, banks may engage pragmatically. If rollout stalls at declarations, firms will continue to route through established messaging and settlement channels while monitoring political risk.
