Why does the group need a new financing mechanism?
The BRICS investment platform was first discussed in October 2024 at the summit in Kazan. Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed launching the platform on the basis of the New Development Bank. The aim was to support the national economies of the BRICS countries and provide them with financing using electronic resources. Later, in the summer of 2025, the initiative was developed further. The proposal was now to create a fully fledged digital platform for settlements and investment.
It may seem that the New Development Bank has long and successfully financed infrastructure projects in BRICS countries and other developing economies. However, the New Development Bank is a classic interstate financial instrument that provides large loans, while the investment platform is conceived as a flexible multifunctional digital mechanism for attracting private and long-term capital.
At the same time, while the New Development Bank operates through standard interbank financing channels, the platform is expected to be built on modern financial technologies and digital assets. The scale and geography of the projects will also differ. Unlike the New Development Bank, the investment platform is intended to expand its reach beyond the core BRICS countries, focusing on Global South countries, emerging markets and partner countries with high demographic growth.
Thus, experts describe the new investment platform as a tool that could become a link between businesses and financial institutions. It will be something like a marketplace or ecosystem where clear project portfolios will be presented. Participants will be able to assess risks and find suitable sources of capital.
“Such a model could be particularly useful for small and medium-sized businesses. Not every company has its own international team, but many have competitive products, technologies and ideas. They need access not only to money but also to information, expertise and reliable contacts,” said in an interview with TV BRICS Abed Amiri, a representative of BRICS Hub in Iran and Russia and an expert in economic and technological cooperation within BRICS, digital transformation and the use of AI in business.
If such a scheme is implemented, the New Development Bank could serve as the financial and institutional foundation of the new ecosystem. The platform should not be viewed as a replacement for the bank, Abed Amiri believes: it could help prepare projects, while the New Development Bank could assess opportunities for financing them and attract partners. This could happen in the coming years, although not all at once. The unified digital platform and interactive map of BRICS special economic zones, Invest Navigator, have already been launched, while the full deployment of the ecosystem will take place in stages, Lavlish Taneja, Deputy Chairman and Head of the India Desk of the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RAUIE), told TV BRICS. In addition, the
New Delhi Declaration also enshrines the continuation of technical work on the platform: “We reiterate our encouragement to continue technical-level efforts on the New Investment Platform (NIP) and building on the guidelines finalised under the Brazilian Chairship. We also welcome the progress achieved under the Indian Chairship in advancing discussions on the NIP,” the document states.
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From transport and logistics to AI and green energy
It is expected that financial flows through the new BRICS investment platform will primarily go towards priority areas for the grouping. These include logistics corridors, urban infrastructure, technology and artificial intelligence, as well as renewable energy sources. Experts also highlight projects in the field of “superintelligence” (SI) and healthcare, where there is significant potential to support digital health platforms, medical technologies, wearable sensors, robotics, AI-assisted diagnostics and innovations aimed at improving the efficiency of the human body.
“For businesses, the value of such a platform goes beyond simple access to capital. It can facilitate cross-border partnerships, technology transfer, access to new markets and the scaling of innovation in BRICS countries,” said Professor and Deputy Dean for Research and Innovation at North-West University (South Africa) Habib Noorbhai in an interview with TV BRICS.
This could be particularly useful for start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises with strong technologies but without the capital or business connections needed for international expansion. Moreover, for many investors and companies, the investment platform could potentially provide access to large-scale government and international projects.
Thus, during his visit to India, speaking to business leaders from BRICS countries ahead of the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was ready to work with partners on infrastructure and logistics projects, including the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor and the International North–South Transport Corridor, as well as to cooperate in technology, artificial intelligence, unmanned transport, finance, tourism and industry.
Supporting home-grown technologies and speeding up the implementation of ideas
According to experts, the main task of the new investment platform is not so much to provide financing as to shorten the path from an idea to implementation. Today, for example, Abed Amiri says, finding a promising project is only the first step. Partners then need to be vetted, terms agreed, legal issues resolved, financing attracted and settlements organised. There is a strong need for this kind of cooperation among the BRICS countries. This has led to the emergence of local technology and business platforms, such as
BRICS HUB Moscow, which positions itself as a platform bringing together start-ups and venture capital funds from BRICS countries. Now, experts say, effective joint work requires scale, speed and a significant simplification of communications. This is what the new BRICS investment platform should provide.
“A multilingual environment is needed where language and geography do not become obstacles to business interaction. An entrepreneur should be able to present their project, find a partner and discuss the terms of cooperation regardless of the language they work in,” emphasises Abed Amiri, an expert in economic and technological cooperation within BRICS, digital transformation and the use of AI in business.
Experts also believe that the investment platform should direct resources towards the development of science and intellectual property in BRICS countries, rather than reinforce dependence on technologies developed outside them. This also applies to the technologies that should directly enable the platform itself to operate. For its launch and successful operation, according to Lavlish Taneja, the integration of digital and electronic assets, the use of tokenised instruments, stablecoins and national digital currencies to bypass traditional settlement mechanisms will be needed.
“In addition, work will be required to create sustainable mechanisms for cross-border settlements, which implies developing settlement systems (such as BRICS Pay or alternative clearing mechanisms) to convert funds directly into the currency of the recipient country,” Lavlish Taneja, Deputy Chairman and Head of the India Desk of the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RAUIE), said in an interview with TV BRICS.
Today, BRICS countries are already actively working on the interoperability of payment systems.
“I consider improving the interoperability of national payment systems to be a necessary area of work. The practical priority is to make cross-border settlements more understandable, predictable and convenient for businesses, including in national currencies,” says Abed Amiri.
Ahead of the summit in India, the BRICS countries considered the possibility of integrating fast payment systems and central bank digital currencies. According to Sanjay Malhotra, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, whose words were conveyed by TV BRICS partner
Brasil 247, this could reduce the cost of cross-border transactions. The group’s members discussed several options for financial integration. The discussions focused on improving the efficiency of transfers between countries, but a specific model and implementation timeline have not yet been determined. The technical parameters of the possible common infrastructure have also not been disclosed. Nevertheless, the
New Delhi Declaration enshrines work on joint settlement centres, the investment platform and a platform for settlements in national currencies, while the finance ministries and central banks of BRICS countries are discussing the creation of a dedicated working group under the New Development Bank. Its task is to work out in detail the technical, regulatory and operational parameters of the new investment platform.
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Prospects for the investment platform and its significance for the Global South
The investment platform could become not only a powerful tool for supporting the national economies of BRICS countries but also potentially provide resources to countries across the Global South and East, offering them alternative sources of financing.
“Many countries in the Global South have talented researchers, entrepreneurs and young innovators, but access to financing, infrastructure, computing capacity and international markets remains uneven. The BRICS platform could help narrow this gap by financing solutions relevant to local conditions and bringing together the innovation ecosystems of different countries,” believes Professor and Deputy Dean for Research and Innovation at North-West University (South Africa) Habib Noorbhai.
Moreover, for the Global South, the BRICS investment platform could eventually provide an opportunity to develop solutions that take into account the characteristics of their populations, the specific nature of data, natural conditions and national priorities. In particular, in the field of AI, this could strengthen sovereignty and encourage the creation of models trained on local data that better reflect the diversity of populations, experts believe. This means that, ultimately, the platform could help countries move from being consumers of advanced technologies to becoming their developers, owners and exporters, which is particularly important for the Global South today.
Once BRICS countries agree on the conceptual model of the new investment platform, the group will move to the stage of technological design and regulatory and legal integration. The next steps could include creating a digital framework, establishing interoperability between the Central Bank Digital Currencies of participating countries, harmonising national legislation, as well as integrating exchanges and banks. All these stages will be required not simply to conduct interstate lending but to create mechanisms capable of bringing together projects, government institutions and private capital.
“Technology is important here, but it does not replace institutions. It is impossible to create a single interface and thereby eliminate differences in the banking and currency regulations of BRICS countries. What can be done is to hide this complexity from the user and turn international operations into an understandable process,” Abed Amiri believes.
When creating the investment platform, according to Lavlish Taneja, developers may face practical barriers, from cultural and legal differences to the heterogeneity of markets. Therefore, the alignment processes will have to be approached selectively and in stages. The platform’s main criterion for success will depend on this. And according to experts, this is not the complexity of the technology but the number of projects implemented.
“BRICS needs an environment where business contact becomes cooperation, cooperation becomes investment, and investment becomes production, innovation and new jobs,” concludes Abed Amiri, an expert in economic and technological cooperation within BRICS, digital transformation and the use of AI in business.
The article was prepared by Svetlana Khristoforova.