Published: September 12, 2026 8:57 am
Author: RT
The project will explore links with India’s payment infrastructure and prepare pilot services, including national currency settlements
The Russian sovereign wealth fund and the BRICS bloc’s Indian payments arm have agreed to develop the economic grouping’s payment project, as well as working on cross-border payment services.
The agreement between the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), BRICS Pay India, and JSC BRICS Pay was announced on Friday – during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s engagements in India – ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi.
The partners will explore ways to integrate BRICS Pay with India’s existing payment infrastructure, prepare potential pilot projects, and work toward the launch of cross-border payment services.
BRICS Pay is the decentralized cross-border payment framework of the bloc.
Cross-border payments is a priority area of financial cooperation for BRICS countries amid Western sanctions and financial exclusion, with members seeking greater interoperability between their national payment systems.
“Developing modern payment infrastructure is a crucial prerequisite for the continued growth of trade and investment among BRICS nations,” RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said. He added that BRICS Pay could complement existing national payment systems and enable them to work together.
The proposed system will facilitate trade and investment between BRICS countries, including through settlements in national currencies, according to RDIF.
BRICS Pay India, the Indian arm of the project, will coordinate with Indian banks, payment service providers, merchants, and other market participants, while RDIF will support the initiative through its investment and international partnership network.
RDIF is Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, with $27.3 billion (2.3 trillion rubles) in assets, it says on its website. JSC BRICS Pay is a Moscow-based company that develops payment-processing systems and infrastructure for the project.
“Today we will announce an agreement on BRICS Pay, in fact, a payment system for BRICS countries,” — Putin’s envoy Dmitriev.
“The main task is that BRICS is not just a geopolitically powerful association, but that there are practical investment and financial solutions that unite… pic.twitter.com/dglOUgvPay
— Margarita Simonyan (@M_Simonyan) September 11, 2026
Dmitriev said BRICS should develop practical investment and financial mechanisms that bring its members together. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the group have asked the BRICS Payment Task Force (BPTF) to continue work on cross-border payment solutions that are faster, cheaper and more accessible.
Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal has called on BRICS members and partner countries to connect payment systems and expand trade in national currencies. Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said members are discussing links between fast-payment systems and central bank digital currencies.
A retail-payment technology demonstrator was tested at the BRICS Business Forum in Moscow in 2024.
