India Says It Has No Interest In Undermining The US Dollar

NEW DELHI, March 6 (Bernama) -- India said it has no interest in undermining the American dollar's international dominance following President Donald Trump's repeated warnings to the BRICS grouping not to create a common currency.

"We have absolutely no interest in undermining the dollar," India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said during an interaction at foreign affairs think tank Chatham House in London on Wednesday.

The Indian minister said "we are very realistic about" the US dollar's global role.

"We have never had a problem with the dollar. Our relations with the US are probably the best ever that they have been," he said while replying to a question.

The acronym BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa but the group now has 10 members after its expansion in 2023, representing a set of strong non-Western economies and demographics.

Some members have shown interest in the idea of a shared currency as BRICS is seen, despite its internal contradictions, a counterweight to Western dominance amid an emerging multipolar world.

Trump on Feb 13 threatened to penalise the BRICS members "if they want to play games" with the US currency.

"If any trading gets through, it'll be 100 per cent tariff, at least," he said.

Jaishankar in his comments at Chatham House described the US dollar as the "source of international economic stability", denying there was "any policy on our part to replace the dollar.”

BRICS countries have "diverse positions" on the idea of a common currency, he said, adding that a multipolarity in the world does not have to translate into a "currency multipolarity."

"The suggestion or the assumption that there is a united BRICS position against the dollar is not borne out by facts," Jaishankar said.

China's economic rise has made the renminbi the most commonly used currency from BRICS.

India has sought to raise the rupee's profile in recent years by pushing for more use of national currencies in trade settlement with many countries, including Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Malaysia.

Jaishankar said promoting "the internationalisation of the rupee" is part of "the globalisation of India."

-- BERNAMA