RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said BRICS members are discussing linking CBDCs and fast payment systems to reduce cross-border transfer costs. India pushes for rupee internationalization.
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BRICS members are exploring plans to connect their central bank digital currencies and fast payment systems, a move that could lower the cost of moving money across the bloc's economies, Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said Tuesday.
Malhotra spoke at an event in Mumbai, describing cross-border transfers as one of the priorities the group keeps revisiting. He cautioned that talks are at an early stage. "Various options are on the table, but it is still at the discussion stage, including CBDCs and linkages of fast payment systems," he said.
The appeal lies in cost savings, the governor said. Cross-border payments are an area of interest because "there is a lot of scope for reducing cost," Malhotra added.
CBDCs are digital versions of countries' official currencies, issued directly by central banks. A channel between these currencies would let payments travel more directly between nations, cutting out layers of intermediaries and lowering the cost of each transfer. The route with linked CBDCs would aim for faster cross-border payments through the domestic payment rails consumers and businesses already use, Malhotra said. He added that such links would also widen the reach of the Indian rupee.
The RBI governor said the central bank will keep working to internationalize the rupee and promote local currencies for trade and payments across borders. India is hosting this year's BRICS summit, an annual gathering that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Earlier in 2026, the RBI asked the Indian government to place a CBDC-linking proposal on the summit's agenda, Malhotra said. The country's goal of currency internationalization is a key reason to push for linking CBDCs among BRICS nations, he explained.
Malhotra also spoke about Indian banks' use of artificial intelligence. He asked financial institutions to catalogue every AI model already running within their operations and to adopt governance policies approved by their boards.
India's push for a BRICS CBDC link comes as other emerging economies experiment with digital currencies. China's digital yuan is already in pilot programs, while Russia has accelerated its CBDC work after sanctions cut it from parts of the global payments system. A linked BRICS network would face technical hurdles, including different legal frameworks and currency convertibility rules, Malhotra said. Still, the cost argument is strong enough for the group to keep exploring options, he added.
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