Brics+ Unit: Is it a bridge too far amid shifting global dynamics?

With global economic shifts underway, India should keep its options open on emerging alternatives to the dollar

One has been writing on Chinese financial and currency-related issues regularly in the columns of this newspaper. There are notable developments taking place in China’s bid to promote alternatives to the US dollar-dominated international financial and currency systems. This is proceeding on parallel tracks. China has been a pioneer in developing and deploying a central bank digital currency (CBDC) domestically and in promoting cross-border digital payment systems, rivalling the dominant and entrenched Swift (Society for Worldwide Inter-Bank Financial Telecommunications) system.

 

The early track, now reaching maturity, is the mBridge project, a digital cross-border payment arrangement using CBDCs, initially promoted by