NEW DELHI, July 18. /TASS/. India favors the idea of creating a single independent BRICS payment system, though it believes that this issue should be worked out thoroughly with all interested sides, Director of India’s Institute of Social Sciences Ash Narain Roy told TASS.

"In principle, India favors an independent BRICS payments system. But there is a feeling that this issue needs to be discussed systematically by different stakeholders before a decision is taken. My understanding is that not just India, several members feel that such a far-reaching decision can’t be taken hurriedly," he said.

The expert expects such a step to have far-reaching consequences. "BRICS countries don’t want to create a system which may become dysfunctional. Hence the issue will be debated but a final decision is not expected in the near future," he said.

Asked about BRICS nations’ technical readiness for the digital payment system, Roy said that "digitization has been fairly successful in India but there are members who may not go for digital payments at this stage or even in the near future."

Chairman of Russia’s Federation Council Valentina Matvienko said at the plenary session of the X BRICS Parliamentary Forum earlier that BRICS was working on creating an independent payment system, which would not be subject to political pressure, abuse or external sanctions interference, in accordance with the decisions of last year's summit in South Africa. The creation of a multilateral digital settlement and payment platform BRICS Bridge could be the result of such work, she noted.

In this case, digital currencies of central banks of BRICS countries, the rate of which will be tied to the value of national currencies can be used, Mativienko said, adding that if the initiative proposed by Moscow is approved, the BRICS countries would be required to coordinate legislative work on the introduction of a national digital currency into circulation and its use in cross-border payments.