THE GIST
Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we’ll show you why it’s our #1 pick. Tap here.
India and Russia have again found a way to circumvent the dollar. At the BRICS summit in New Delhi, the two countries are pushing to settle cross-border trade in local digital currencies.
The countries are framing this as a payments-efficiency upgrade, but the deal is really to keep trade moving despite Western sanctions and U.S. tariff pressure.
WHAT HAPPENED
New Delhi and Moscow signed a memorandum of understanding to link India’s UPI payment network with Russia’s Faster Payments System, as part of a broader “BRICS Pay” initiative. India’s pushing a wider proposal to connect BRICS members’ central bank digital currencies.
The initial pilot will link India’s UPI and Russia’s FPS and cover consumer-to-business payments, letting an Indian traveler in Russia pay with UPI and a Russian traveler in India pay with FPS. The B2B layer aimed at exporters and importers is in development.
Separately, India is also pushing a proposal to link BRICS members’ digital currencies, though nothing concrete is likely to come out of this summit.
WHY IT MATTERS
New Delhi has been explicit that it does not want BRICS positioned as an anti-dollar bloc. But really?
One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here.
The Reserve Bank of India’s July 2022 framework lets foreign banks open rupee accounts in India so trade can be invoiced and settled directly in INR, no dollar conversion required. Banks from roughly 30 countries have opened 156 Special Rupee Vostro Accounts with 26 Indian banks, per RBI data reported in early 2025, up from an initial 22 countries in 2023, including Russia, Iran, Israel, Germany, Bangladesh and more.
Russia, however, is the first and largest use case. Sberbank, VTB Bank and Gazprombank all opened Vostro accounts in 2022-23. Rupee-settled imports (overwhelmingly Russian crude) hit roughly $14.6 billion in March-May 2026 alone, more than the two prior fiscal years combined. With regard to arms, Russia remains India’s largest supplier by far, but its share has fallen from 72% in 2010-14 to roughly 36-40% in 2021-25. India is also buying from the U.S. and Israel and also ramping up domestic production.
That’s a big miss for the dollar.
With Iran, a pre-existing 2018 rupee arrangement lets Iranian exporters get paid in rupees without added certification, which was built around U.S. sanctions on Iran specifically. India also has a local currency arrangement with the UAE to cover both oil and non-oil trade in rupees and dirhams.
