BRICS leaders convened in New Delhi on Sunday, marking the expansion of the group to 11 member countries across four continents and nearly half of the world’s population. The summit gathered prominent figures including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The presence of key international officials such as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, World Trade Organization director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and heads of the New Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank signaled the bloc’s ambition to influence global governance.

The leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration, which analysts interpret as a strategic maneuver to safeguard economic cooperation amid rising global uncertainties rather than a direct challenge to the existing international order. Central to the declaration was an emphasis on enhancing trade resilience through greater use of local currencies and improved payment systems within the BRICS framework. This approach aims to reduce dependency on the U.S. dollar, seen as potentially vulnerable to political leverage, while promoting reforms within established global institutions.

Guterres underscored the need for the multilateral system, including the UN Security Council and the Bretton Woods institutions, to evolve in line with contemporary geopolitical realities, reflecting the shift toward a multipolar world. Prior to the summit, BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors called for reforms such as adjusted quotas at the International Monetary Fund, expanded influence for emerging economies at the World Bank, and leadership selections less beholden to Western countries. Their joint statement stressed the urgency of reforming these Bretton Woods institutions to enhance their legitimacy.

India explicitly dismissed proposals for a unified BRICS currency, framing the move toward local-currency settlements as a practical means to reduce bilateral trade transaction costs rather than a vehicle for outright de-dollarisation. Sudhakar Dalela, India’s BRICS sherpa, emphasized that these mechanisms would complement, not replace, the global financial system. The declaration also directed the BRICS Payment System to advance interoperability among payment and messaging platforms and to facilitate trade settlements in national currencies, recognizing that varied approaches are necessary for such a diverse group.

Scholars from China and other member states characterize the bloc’s strategy as twofold: pressing for reforms within existing international financial institutions while simultaneously developing alternative mechanisms should those efforts falter. Liu Zongyi, senior fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, noted that dissatisfaction with the U.S.-led global order, particularly its dollar-dominated financial system, motivates these initiatives. He highlighted that Russia and Iran’s experiences with financial sanctions have accelerated BRICS countries’ pursuit of strategic autonomy through expanded use of national currencies and a dedicated payment system.

According to Sourabh Gupta of the Institute for China-America Studies, BRICS’s efforts are less about eliminating the dollar from trade invoices and more focused on mitigating the potential weaponization of the dollar through control of payment infrastructure. He explained that while transactions may still be denominated in dollars, moving the actual payment processing outside the U.S.-governed financial infrastructure—such as correspondent banks and the SWIFT network—would limit Washington’s ability to impose sanctions or restrictions. Gupta added that building an alternative system for local-currency settlements and integrating central bank digital currencies represent a longer-term goal requiring significant time and coordination.

The significance of these developments lies in the underlying vulnerability of the global dollar payment system, which Russia’s 2022 experience with financial channel closures and Iran’s longstanding constraints have underscored. Other BRICS countries observed the impact of tariffs and secondary sanctions and are actively seeking mechanisms to reduce dependence on dollar-centric infrastructure, ensuring their economic activities remain insulated from potential geopolitical pressures.