India Hosts BRICS Summit With Payments Agenda in Focus

India will host the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13, 2026, bringing together leaders of member and partner countries as well as outreach invitees under the theme Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability. As BRICS Chair for the fourth time, India is using its presidency to focus the bloc's agenda on cross-border payments, local-currency trade and stronger economic cooperation, with the venue at Bharat Mandapam being readied for the gathering. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to attend, according to pre-summit reporting, though host-country confirmation of their participation has not been documented. A central item on India's agenda is a push to advance a rupee-based central bank digital currency and to connect independent domestic payment systems across the bloc. According to reporting focused on the summit's financial agenda, New Delhi is not proposing a common, euro-style currency, but rather a structure intended to reduce cross-border transaction costs, expand the rupee's international footprint and keep India geopolitically neutral.