No unified BRICS position on dollar – India

The assumption that the BRICS group of nations is actively working against the US dollar “is not borne out by facts,” said India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar while addressing a gathering in London. India, in particular, has “no interest in undermining the dollar at all,” Jaishankar added.

Speaking at Chatham House on Wednesday as part of his official visit to the UK, Jaishankar suggested that there is no consensus among the expanded BRICS grouping on the dominance of the US currency in international trade—something that many BRICS members openly challenge.

“I would also say in all honesty, I don’t think there is a unified BRICS position on this. I think BRICS members, and now that we have more members, have very diverse positions on this matter. So, the suggestion or the assumption that somewhere there is a united BRICS position against the dollar, I think, is not borne out by facts,” he said. The minister added that he does not believe that “multipolarity has to translate itself into a currency [multipolarity].”

Jaishankar’s statements come weeks after former US President Donald Trump claimed BRICS is “trying to destroy the US dollar” and that the group is “dead” following his threats to impose a 150% tariff on goods imported from member countries.

“When I came in, the first thing I said was any BRICS state that even mentions the destruction of the dollar will be charged a 150% tariff, and we don’t want your goods, and the BRICS states just broke up,” he said in February, hours before hosting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House.

BRICS was formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and has expanded in the past two years to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Indonesia. Saudi Arabia has accepted membership but has not formally joined yet.

Jaishankar was also asked whether India’s strategy of internationalizing the rupee is part of an effort to challenge the dollar. The diplomat clarified that it was rather a broader effort to promote “the globalization of India.” As more Indians travel and live abroad, the practice of using the rupee “will naturally expand,” he explained.

However, he was quick to clarify:“We have never had a problem with the dollar. Our relations with the US are probably the best ever that they have been. So we have absolutely no interest in undermining the dollar at all.” 

When speaking about India’s foreign policy concerning its immediate neighborhood, Jaishankar pointed out that there has been a steady increase in rupee-based transactions in the region due to “lack of the availability of dollars,” suggesting that “many countries want to see more dollar, not less.”