Why in news?

Ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi (September 2026), with India as Chair, member nations are pushing for new mechanisms to make cross-border payments faster and cheaper — including linking digital payment systems and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Finance ministries and central bank representatives from BRICS countries met in Jaipur recently to discuss this financial cooperation.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• How Do Cross-Border Payments Currently Work?
• The Role of SWIFT
• Why Are These Payments So Costly and Slow?
• Why Does BRICS Want to Change This System?
• What Alternatives Are Being Explored?
• What Is India's Position?

How Do Cross-Border Payments Currently Work?

• Sending money internationally isn't a direct transfer — it travels through a chain of intermediaries called correspondent banks.
• For example, if a South African importer pays an Indian exporter, the payment doesn't move directly between the two countries' banks.
• Instead, it's routed through a larger international bank (usually based in London or New York) that holds accounts with both.
• Since very few banks hold both rupees and rand directly, the payment gets converted rand → dollar → rupee, with the US dollar acting as a "vehicle currency" — even though no American party is involved in the trade at all.

The Role of SWIFT

• Alongside the actual money, payment instructions also need to travel between banks — this is handled by SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication).
• SWIFT is a Belgium-based cooperative overseen by the National Bank of Belgium and G-10 central banks (including the US Federal Reserve).
• SWIFT works like a secure messaging network — a "post office" for payment instructions — used directly by over 11,000 institutions in more than 200 countries.
• Smaller banks connect to it indirectly through larger ones, making SWIFT deeply embedded and hard to replace.

Why Are These Payments So Costly and Slow?

• Every intermediary bank in the chain charges a fee, and currency is converted twice, meaning forex margins are paid twice over.
• A 2019 BRICS survey by Brazil found:
  • Forex margins of 2.5% for Brazilian respondents generally
  • Rising to 8.5% for payments involving Africa
  • Sometimes as high as 20% in certain cases
• While SWIFT's "Global Payments Innovation" has helped speed up transactions, structural delays persist.
• The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) found that active correspondent banking relationships fell by 20% between 2011 and 2018 — with Latin America worst affected (declines up to 30%) — even as overall payment volumes kept growing through this shrinking network.

Why Does BRICS Want to Change This System?

• For developing economies, heavy reliance on a few dominant currencies — the US dollar, euro, and yen — creates exposure to the monetary policies of the countries issuing them.
• The 2024 BRICS report (under Russia's chairmanship) argued that this system is effectively monopolised, driving up transaction costs.
• Building alternatives is hard, though — they require convincing a large number of banks and regulators to join.
• There's also a sanctions risk: several Russian banks were cut off from SWIFT in 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, making other countries cautious about joining any alternative system that a sanctioned nation might use.
• This is exactly why Russia has pushed hardest for alternatives, while others remain wary.

What Alternatives Are Being Explored?

• Direct linking of national payment systems — instead of routing through multiple correspondent banks, countries could connect their payment systems directly, in pairs.
  • India has already done this with Singapore, linking UPI with Singapore's PayNow for remittances. However, building such bilateral links one at a time doesn't scale well.
• A shared hub model — Project Nexus, designed by the BIS and now run by a company set up by six central banks (including India's RBI), aims to connect multiple countries' payment systems through one common hub.
  • It's expected to go live only in 2027, and importantly, it is not a BRICS initiative.
• Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) — BRICS discussions extend this idea further, exploring the use of CBDCs (digital versions of currencies used for bank-to-bank settlement, not retail digital currency for individuals) exchanged on a common platform.
  • Both sides of a currency swap would settle simultaneously, eliminating the risk of one party paying before the other, speeding up settlement and reducing capital banks need to set aside.
  • The only such platform running today is mBridge, built by BIS with the central banks of China, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the UAE.
  • BIS handed it over to participants in October 2024. Notably, over 95% of mBridge's settlement volume is in China's digital yuan.
• The 2024 Kazan Declaration agreed to "discuss and study the feasibility" of an independent BRICS settlement system called BRICS Clear — but this proposal was notably absent from the following year's Rio Declaration.

What Is India's Position?

• India's own proposal, reported in January, suggests member nations link their CBDCs specifically for trade and tourism payments.
• Indian officials have been careful to frame this purely as a way to cut transaction costs and speed up settlements — not as an attempt to displace the US dollar, unlike some Russian and Brazilian proposals that go further toward reducing dollar dependence.
• This cautious framing may not be accidental. In November 2024, then US President Donald Trump threatened 100% tariffs on BRICS countries if they moved away from the dollar, plus a further 10% tariff on countries aligning with vaguely defined "anti-American" BRICS policies.
• Though these threats weren't carried out, they may explain why India has stuck to a narrower, cost-focused framing of the payment discussions.

Conclusion

BRICS's push for alternative cross-border payment mechanisms reflects developing economies' shared concern over high costs and dollar dependence in global finance, though the group remains divided on how far to go — with Russia favouring dollar alternatives and India framing its proposals purely around efficiency.

As India hosts the 2026 summit, its cautious, cost-centric approach to CBDC linkages will likely shape how far BRICS's payment ambitions actually progress.

Why in news?

Recently, a Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana asked the Central government to examine introducing "totaliser" machines for counting EVM votes.

The goal: protect the secrecy of booth-wise voting patterns and prevent voters at individual booths from being identified and potentially victimised.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• What Is a Totaliser?
• How Did This Case Begin?
• The Centre's Position: Historically Opposed
• The Election Commission's Position: Consistently Supportive
• Why This Matters?

What Is a Totaliser?

• A totaliser is a device that allows votes from about 14 polling booths to be counted together, instead of the current practice of tallying votes booth by booth.
• It is developed by Bharat Electronics Limited (Bengaluru) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (Hyderabad).
• It works as an interface connected to the main control unit of a cluster of 14 EVMs.
• Pressing a single result button gives the consolidated vote count for each candidate across that entire cluster — without revealing how votes were split booth-wise.

How Did This Case Begin?

• The case dates back to 2014, when two individuals — Yogesh Gupta and Imran Khan — filed a public interest petition asking the Election Commission to mix up votes across polling stations within a constituency.
• Their argument: this was necessary to stop candidates from intimidating voters in areas that had rejected them in the past.
• They cited an alleged instance involving former Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar in the Baramati constituency, where he reportedly threatened that his party (NCP) could identify anti-party voting patterns from EVM data and cut off water supply to those areas as retaliation.

The Centre's Position: Historically Opposed

• The Central government has consistently resisted the totaliser proposal:
  • In 2017, the Centre told the Court that knowledge of booth-wise voting patterns does not lead to intimidation — instead, it helps candidates work harder in areas with low support, benefiting everyone.
  • A Law Ministry affidavit cited a Group of Ministers (headed by then-Home Minister Rajnath Singh) which concluded that large-scale voter intimidation was unlikely "in this era of media activism".
  • In 2018, Additional Solicitor General argued that installing a totaliser could cause a data breach even before counting begins.
  • More recently, the Centre again raised concerns about potential EVM data leaks before counting — prompting the Court to give the Election Commission two weeks to respond to these specific concerns

The Election Commission's Position: Consistently Supportive

• Unlike the Centre, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has backed totalisers for years:
  • First proposed the idea to the UPA government in 2008.
  • In a 2018 submission to the Supreme Court, it stated: "a time has come for introduction of totaliser for counting of votes".
  • In the current hearings, the EC reaffirmed its support for protecting voter anonymity, while also flagging practical and legal challenges — particularly around booth-wise verification and VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail).

What Did the Supreme Court Say Now?

• The Court directed the Central government to clearly state its position on introducing totalisers, specifically asking:
  • Whether there are any impediments to implementing such a system;
  • Whether it would have any negative impact.
• The Election Commission has also been asked to submit its formal proposal to the Union government.

Why This Matters?

• This case touches a fundamental tension in electoral democracy: the right to a secret ballot versus the practical benefits candidates derive from booth-level voting data.
• If large-scale voter intimidation based on booth-wise EVM results is a real risk, totalisers could offer a technological safeguard — but concerns around data security and verification mechanisms like VVPAT remain unresolved.

Conclusion

The totaliser debate reflects a long-standing tussle between safeguarding voter anonymity and the Centre's practical and security-related reservations.

With the Supreme Court now directing both the Centre and the Election Commission to clarify their positions, the coming weeks could determine whether India moves toward a more anonymised, cluster-based EVM counting system — a significant step for electoral integrity.

Why in News?

• After nearly a decade of regulatory delays, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) is poised to launch its Initial Public Offering (IPO), potentially raising around ₹30,000 crore, which could make it the largest IPO in India’s history.
• The proposed public listing has generated considerable interest among institutional and retail investors.
• A key unresolved issue is whether NSE will eventually be permitted to trade its own shares on its platform, despite regulations prohibiting an exchange from listing itself.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Regulatory Hurdle - The Self-Listing Problem
• Why Trading NSE Shares on NSE Matters?
• IPO Timing and Valuation
• Significance for Investors and the Economy

Regulatory Hurdle - The Self-Listing Problem:

• Conflict of interest:
  • Under existing SEBI regulations, a stock exchange cannot list its own shares on its platform.
  • Exchanges function as first-level regulators for entities listed and traded on them.
  • Self-listing could therefore create a conflict of interest, as an exchange would effectively regulate itself. NSE's proposed solution is the Permitted-to-Trade (PTT) route.
  • Under this mechanism -
    • NSE shares would initially be listed on BSE.
    • NSE would subsequently submit a proposal to SEBI seeking permission for its shares to trade on NSE without being listed there.
    • BSE would remain the primary listing platform and bear the principal compliance responsibility.
    • NSE would establish standard operating procedures for surveillance, price bands and other trading functions to mitigate conflicts of interest.
    • If SEBI approves the proposal, NSE shares could trade on NSE through the PTT mechanism.
• Regulatory precedent:
  • The proposal faces a significant precedent. For example, SEBI rejected BSE's similar PTT proposal when BSE listed in 2017, citing concerns over conflict of interest.
  • SEBI Chair Tuhin Kanta Pandey has indicated that the regulator has not yet substantively considered the issue.
  • BSE MD Sundararaman Ramamurthy has opposed the idea, arguing that self-trading is currently not supported by the regulatory framework.

Why Trading NSE Shares on NSE Matters:

• Liquidity and market reach:
  • NSE dominates India's equity and derivatives markets, accounting for approximately -
    • 93% of cash-market turnover
    • Nearly the entire futures premium
    • Around 75% of options premium
  • Allowing NSE shares to trade on its own platform could therefore provide them with greater liquidity, visibility and investor participation.
• Index inclusion and passive flows:
  • Trading on NSE could also facilitate inclusion in major NSE indices such as the Nifty 500 and Nifty Financial Services.
  • Such inclusion could generate additional demand through passive mutual funds and index-tracking investments.
  • The PTT mechanism is not unprecedented in practice - around 250 companies that are not listed on NSE are nevertheless permitted to trade on its platform.

IPO Timing and Valuation:

• The NSE IPO arrives amid a revival in India's primary market after a period of weakness linked partly to the West Asia conflict and concerns surrounding the AI-driven global market environment.
• Around 73% of funds raised through mainboard IPOs in 2026 had come during July and August, highlighting the recent acceleration in IPO activity.
• Despite several other large issues competing for investor attention, NSE's scale, market dominance and brand value are expected to distinguish its offering.
• Brokerages have estimated a potential price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 35–49 times FY26 earnings.
• The final valuation will depend on the IPO price band, expected to be announced around mid-September.
• Reports suggest that mutual funds may be comfortable with a price of roughly ₹1,800 per NSE share, implying a P/E multiple of approximately 43–45 times.

Significance for Investors and the Economy:

• NSE's IPO represents more than a large capital-market transaction.
• It marks the potential public-market transformation of one of India's most systemically important financial-market institutions.
• Its attractiveness rests on India's -
  • Rising financialisation of household savings
  • Increasing retail participation in capital markets
  • Low penetration of equity investment relative to the size of the population
  • Growing derivatives and digital trading ecosystem
  • Expanding role of market infrastructure institutions
• However, NSE's recent revenue and profit pressures, partly associated with regulatory changes in the derivatives segment, highlight the importance of balancing its growth potential against valuation and regulatory risks.
• The broader policy challenge is to balance market efficiency and competition with regulatory neutrality, transparency and prevention of conflicts of interest.

Why in the News?

• The 26^th Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, on August 31-September 1, 2026. The summit marked 25 years of the organisation, which was established in 2001.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• About SCO (Background, Areas of Cooperation)
• News Summary (Significance for India, Challenges, etc.)

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: Background

• The SCO originated from the Shanghai Five, comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
• The grouping was formally established as the SCO on June 15, 2001.
• India and Pakistan became full members in 2017, expanding the organisation's geographical and strategic significance.
• The SCO does not have a collective defence mechanism. Instead, it functions as a platform for political dialogue, security cooperation, counter-terrorism, economic engagement and regional coordination.
• The organisation currently operates through 29 charter bodies and more than 40 working mechanisms, providing regular channels for interaction among member states.

Key Areas of SCO Cooperation

• Counter-Terrorism and Security
  • Countering terrorism, separatism and extremism remains a central objective of the SCO.
  • At the Bishkek Summit, the declaration strongly condemned terrorism. This was particularly significant for India, which has consistently advocated a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism and opposed double standards in counter-terrorism efforts.
  • India also highlighted the importance of peace and stability in Afghanistan and called for an inclusive government in the country.
• West Asian Conflicts
  • The Bishkek Declaration expressed deep concern over military strikes against Iran and reaffirmed support for Iran's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
  • The SCO also emphasised the peaceful use of atomic energy, supporting the inalienable right of states to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
  • On the Palestine issue, member states stated that a just settlement of the Palestine question was essential for lasting stability in West Asia.
• Connectivity and Sovereignty
  • India supported greater connectivity between markets of SCO member states, while emphasising respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.
  • This position is significant because India has consistently opposed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) due to its passage through Pakistan-occupied territory.
  • The SCO declaration supported the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and advocated its alignment with the Eurasian Economic Union. India, however, did not endorse the BRI.

News Summary: India’s Engagement with the SCO

• India has used the SCO as an important platform for pursuing its diplomatic and strategic objectives since joining in 2017.
• At the Bishkek Summit, Prime Minister Modi emphasised “no double standards” in fighting terrorism and highlighted India's humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. India's position on connectivity also reflected its emphasis on territorial sovereignty.
• The summit was particularly important because Pakistan assumed the chairmanship of the SCO, with the next summit scheduled to be held in Pakistan.
• India's participation will therefore require careful diplomatic consideration given the deterioration in India-Pakistan relations following the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor and the subsequent decision regarding the Indus Waters Treaty.
• The SCO nevertheless provides India and Pakistan with a multilateral setting for sustained engagement. Such institutionalised interaction can help prevent bilateral tensions from escalating or spilling over into wider regional instability.

Significance of the SCO for India

• The SCO provides India with access to a multilateral platform involving China, Russia, Iran and Central Asian countries. It enables India to:
  • Engage simultaneously with major Eurasian powers.
  • Advance cooperation against terrorism and extremism.
  • Participate in discussions on Afghanistan and regional security.
  • Strengthen economic and connectivity linkages with Central Asia.
  • Maintain diplomatic channels with China and Pakistan.
  • Engage Russia and Iran within a broader multilateral framework.
• The organisation also provides an avenue for discussing global issues such as international security, missile defence, maritime connectivity and alternative financial mechanisms.
• The proposed establishment of an SCO Development Bank and discussions on greater use of local currencies indicate efforts towards deeper financial and economic cooperation among member states.

Challenges

• The SCO faces structural limitations because its members have significant geopolitical differences.
• India and China continue to have unresolved border issues, while India and Pakistan face deep bilateral tensions.
• Similarly, members have different positions on conflicts such as Ukraine and West Asia. The organisation's consensus-based functioning can therefore make substantive collective action difficult.
• Nevertheless, the SCO's survival for 25 years despite these differences demonstrates the continuing relevance of multilateral dialogue and institutionalised engagement.

Conclusion

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has evolved into an important Eurasian multilateral platform.
• For India, its significance lies not only in security cooperation but also in maintaining diplomatic engagement with China, Russia, Iran, Central Asia and Pakistan.
• Despite internal differences, the SCO provides India with strategic space to pursue its interests, advocate counter-terrorism, promote regional connectivity and maintain dialogue in an increasingly fragmented international order.

About Gollala Gudi Temple:

• It is an ancient temple located at Palampet in the Mulugu district of Telangana.
• It is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
• The Kakatiya-era temple is located near the UNESCO-listed Ramappa Temple (Kakatiya Rudreshwara) and is renowned for its exquisite carvings and architectural heritage.
  • The Kakatiya dynasty was a Telugu dynasty that ruled most of the eastern Deccan region in present-day India between the 12th and 14th centuries.
  • Its territory spanned present-day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, parts of eastern Karnataka, northern Tamil Nadu, and southern Odisha.
• Architecture:
  • Built during the height of the Kakatiya dynasty, Gollala Gudi exemplifies the engineering and stone craftsmanship typical of the Deccan era.
  • Like Ramappa, it was raised without binding mortar, using precisely interlocked dry masonry.
  • It is a "Trikutalaya" (shrine with three sanctums), comprising a mandapa (pillared hall) facing east and three garbhagrihas (sanctum sanctorums), with the central sanctum housing a Shiva lingam.
  • Its parapet is adorned with sculptures, while the entablature and doorways feature rows of carved hamsas with “jali” (latticework) — among the temple’s distinctive features.
  • Two detached shrines stand in front, intricately carved and adorned with figures of “dvarapalas” (door guardians), with antechambers decorated by fine cornices and screens.
  • The main temple has a portico leading to a central hall with three shrines and antechambers to the north, south, and west.
  • Its walls carry niches with images of Vishnu, Lakshmi, Ganesha, and Mahishasuramardini—an epithet of the goddess Durga meaning “slayer of the demon Mahishasura.”

About Rudra Raptors Exercise:

• It is a high-intensity joint military exercise conducted by the Konark Corps of the Indian Army.
• It was conducted in the forward areas of the desert sector in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
• Theme: “One team, one purpose, absolute battlefield dominance”
• The exercise witnessed joint integrated training and active participation from the elite helicopters of ‘Thar Raptors’ such as AH-64E Apaches, and tanks of the ‘Black Mace’ Brigade.
• Black Mace Brigade is the Rudra all-arms formation under Konark Corps, which the Army validated during Exercise Akhand Prahar in 2025 as a combined-arms unit grouping armour, mechanised infantry, artillery, air defence, and support elements under one headquarters.
• The exercise was aimed at establishing seamless synergy between aerial and ground combat capabilities, as well as validating integrated battle strategies for realistic battlefield conditions.
• During the joint training, attack helicopters and tanks executed operational activities in tandem to demonstrate coordinated actions between aerial and ground military assets.