BRICS mulls alternative payment platforms

New Delhi: Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has rooted for trade in national currencies with India and said BRICS is considering several initiatives on alternative payment platforms exclusive of SWIFT, including one such proposal by Brazil.

Lavrov also said some portion of India-Russia trade is already being conducted in national currencies.

Countries that do not belong to BRICS will also be able to access alternative payment platforms within the association if they are created, Lavrov told reporters following a meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers in Almaty on Friday.


The BRICS grouping - originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - now also includes Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Indonesia.

"There are a number of other initiatives currently under consideration within the BRICS format, one of them being a proposal by Brazil to create an alternative payment platform, with work underway on this track. I am confident that countries, even those outside BRICS, will have access to such mechanisms when they are created," he said.

Brazil is the current BRICS chair and will host BRICS foreign ministers and NSA level meetings later this month ahead of the July summit.

"There is an opportunity to form payment platforms independent of external influence, one example being the financial messaging system of the Bank of Russia. It is convenient, and it does not depend on any SWIFT network,' the minister noted.

In February, Russia's envoy to India Denis Alipov said mutual payments between Russia and India in national currencies are stable.

"Mutual payments in national currencies are stable. As of today, national currencies account for around 90% of direct payments between Russia and India," he told Russian news agency TASS.

The transition can become even more seamless as discussions are ongoing on integrating Russia's Mir and India's RuPay payment systems. If finalised, this will simplify transactions.

In 2024, India-Russia bilateral trade reached a record $66 billion, representing a five-fold increase in the past five years. Both countries aim to increase this to $100 billion by 2030.