BRICS: India, Russia To Create New National Payment Systems, Ditch US Dollar

BRICS members India and Russia have created new partnerships using their national payment systems to ditch the US dollar—the partnership would oversee how India’s payment system, RuPay, and Russia’s MIR system can be integrated for seamless cross-border transactions between the two nations.

This was disclosed Monday during India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia to strengthen the India-Russia relationship, including boosting energy and trade ties and agreeing to a resolution to ramp up trade to $100 billion by 2030 from the current $65 billion.

During the meeting, India reportedly confirmed that it was open to trade with BRICS counterpart Russia using the RuPay and MIR systems, leaving the dollar out of trade terms with the two countries.

The two countries stand to gain significantly from this de-dollarisation approach. By conducting trade in their local currencies, India and Russia can potentially save millions in exchange rates, furthering their mutual monetary terms and advancing the de-dollarisation agenda of the BRICS bloc.

In a corroborative tone, the CEO of Russia’s VTB Bank, Andrey Konstin, confirmed the development during a press conference with Russia’s Sputnik on Wednesday.

We (BRICS) must develop our settlement system that includes the global south, enabling us to conduct transactions in our national currencies” and not the US dollar,” Kostin said.

“India has a positive attitude towards working with Russia,” he added.

The CEO further explained that the RuPay and MIR payment systems could soon be integrated for trade settlements. “We will make some progress given the existing complexities,” he said, adding that BRICS wants to be free from the US dollar, Euro, and Western currencies.

Read more: Belarus President Lukashenko Hosts First Lady Oluremi Tinubu to Discuss Agriculture and Education Partnership

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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