BRICS Pay is a decentralised digital payment ecosystem designed to connect national payment systems so people, companies and banks in participating countries can make cross-border payments in local currencies. It is still in pilot and phased rollout stages and is not globally operational for all BRICS members.
The initiative is intended to operate alongside Western systems such as SWIFT, Visa and Mastercard rather than replace them. Analysts say it could reduce reliance on SWIFT in some trade corridors, but it is unlikely to displace the network globally in the foreseeable future.
What leaders agreed in New Delhi
At the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13, leaders committed to expanding local-currency trading and cross-border payment systems, including through investment in BRICS Pay, an initiative of the BRICS Business Council.
The joint declaration also encouraged the BRICS Payments Task Force, a platform for central-bank experts, to develop practical cross-border payment solutions that are fast, low-cost, accessible, efficient, transparent and safe. The declaration did not call for a common BRICS currency or explicitly seek to replace the dollar.
How the proposed network would work
BRICS Pay would link national payment infrastructures so transactions between entities or individuals in different countries could be processed without using an additional currency such as the dollar. Payments could use QR codes, digital wallets or mobile applications.
The project was proposed by the BRICS Business Council in 2018 and officially endorsed by the council in 2024. Its stated infrastructure could also be used by friendly states of BRICS countries. The initial BRICS members were Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa; Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia have since joined, bringing the group to 11 members.
Why SWIFT remains difficult to challenge
SWIFT is a secure messaging network used by banks to communicate about money transfers and other transactions. It is used by more than 11,000 financial institutions and is overseen by the G10 central banks and the European Central Bank, with the National Bank of Belgium as lead overseer.
Russia’s exclusion from SWIFT after Western countries blocked certain Russian banks in February 2022 has increased interest in alternatives. However, analysts cited in the report said BRICS members have different regulatory systems, capital controls and strategic interests, making a network of interoperable national systems more plausible than one centralised payment system.
The test for BRICS Pay
BRICS countries already operate national systems, including India’s UPI, Brazil’s Pix and China’s Cross-border Interbank Payment System, or CIPS. The central challenge is linking those systems so they can support wider international trade and payments.
If that connection develops successfully, BRICS Pay could make the global payments architecture more plural and fragmented, with several networks operating alongside one another. Its practical impact will depend on whether member countries can agree on interoperability and use of local currencies.
What happens next
The BRICS finance ministers and central bank officials discussed advancing the project in Jaipur, India, in August, before the New Delhi summit. BRICS Pay remains in pilot and phased rollout stages.
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