India is backing links between BRICS members’ central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for cross-border payments but does not support creating a single payments network for the bloc. With India chairing BRICS this year, the issue is expected to be discussed by finance ministers and central bank governors before the leaders’ September 12-13 summit in New Delhi. The proposal would connect national CBDC systems and encourage bilateral trade settlement in local currencies rather than dollars or other third currencies. India also supports linking existing instant-payment systems, building on its UPI connection with Singapore’s PayNow, but a unified BRICS payments and settlement system is unlikely to be agreed at the upcoming summit. The approach reflects concerns that a bloc-wide framework could be viewed as explicitly anti-dollar or anti-Western, while members continue exploring alternatives to infrastructure such as SWIFT. Implementation would still face political, technical and currency-management challenges, including limited CBDC adoption, strained relations among members and the possible need for currency-swap arrangements.