BRICS ramps up de‑dollarization
BRICS members are accelerating moves away from the dollar—Indian refiners have begun settling some Russian crude in yuan and dirhams, and Iran is now charging yuan‑denominated tolls for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz (techi.com). New Delhi is pushing diplomatic unity and tech diplomacy from its chairmanship—unveiling the Mission ShakthiSAT mascot, convening the first BRICS Youth Coordination Meeting, and inviting foreign ministers and leaders to upcoming summits—while Moscow is urging deeper BRICS tech cooperation via a new business committee (m.thewire.in) (orissadiary.com) (aninews.in) (thehindu.com).
Indian state refiners have already made yuan settlements for multiple Russian cargoes—sources say Indian Oil Corp completed payments in yuan for two to three shipments. (finance.yahoo.com) Those same refiners booked roughly 60 million barrels of Russian crude for April delivery as they scramble to replace Strait‑of‑Hormuz flows, a volume Bloomberg says is more than double February purchases. (bloomberg.com) Trade mechanics are shifting: some deals are being executed by depositing rupees into special overseas accounts that sellers then convert into UAE dirhams or Chinese yuan, according to industry and government reporting. (business-standard.com) India’s central bank and banks with UAE ties have been pushed to expand rupee‑dirham settlement channels as part of that adaptation, a policy nudge reported last year and cited again in recent coverage. (gulfbusiness.com) Lloyd’s List Intelligence confirms at least two vessels paid Iran in Chinese yuan to secure passage through an Iran‑run corridor, and tracking data show roughly 26 vetted transits between March 13–25. (lloydslist.com) Bloomberg and other maritime reports say Iran has sought ad‑hoc payments of as much as $2 million per voyage for some approved transits, underscoring the premium carriers are paying to avoid the open channel. (bloomberg.com) New Delhi has formally circulated invitations for BRICS foreign ministers’ talks and the leaders’ summit as chair, with reporting placing the foreign‑ministers meeting in mid‑May and the leaders’ summit in September. (thehindu.com) India’s foreign office earlier convened BRICS Sherpas on Feb. 9–10 to set its chairship priorities—“Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”—ahead of those ministerial and leader meetings. (mea.gov.in) The Mission ShakthiSAT mascot unveiled at a BRICS women‑empowerment summit carries 108 flags on its shirt and is tied to a campaign to train about 12,000 girls worldwide in satellite engineering and STEM, organizers said at the March 23 event in New Delhi. (tribuneindia.com) India hosted the first BRICS Youth Coordination Meeting virtually in late March, where member delegations outlined ten priority areas including education, innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability for the BRICS youth track. (thinq360.com) Moscow has moved in parallel: a presidential decree on Feb. 16 created a National Committee for BRICS business cooperation and named Maxim Oreshkin to lead it, and President Putin has urged Russian firms to join deeper BRICS tech projects at RUIE and related forums. (iz.ru)
