Cybersecurity boost: Banks, RBI move to launch Digital Fraud Detection Platform amid soaring crimes – All you need to know
In a concerted push to tackle the rising wave of digital payment frauds, major public and private sector banks are collaborating with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to develop a Digital Payment Intelligence Platform (DPIP), a new Digital Public Infrastructure aimed at enhancing fraud risk managementAs per the news agency PTI, the proposed platform will enable real-time intelligence sharing and data analysis to detect and prevent fraudulent digital transactions. According to sources, the RBI-led initiative is a top priority and is expected to go live in the coming months. The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) has been tasked with building a prototype of DPIP in consultation with 5–10 banks.“Fraud is a common monster,” a source said, underlining why both public and private banks are being roped in to co-develop the platform. A high-level meeting was recently held to finalise its institutional structure, with participation from senior bank executives and RBI officials.The platform comes in response to a sharp spike in fraud cases. As per the RBI’s latest annual report, bank frauds jumped nearly threefold to Rs 36,014 crore in FY25, compared to Rs 12,230 crore a year ago. Public sector banks reported Rs 25,667 crore worth of frauds—up from Rs 9,254 crore in FY24. While card and internet payment frauds dominated in the private sector, public sector banks faced large-scale fraud in their loan portfolios.A few weeks ago, Airtel approached over 40 banks, RBI and NPCI, proposing collaboration to create a repository of known fraudulent domains to enable proactive blocking of rogue sites. The telecom major also highlighted risks posed by OTT messaging platforms, calling them the weakest link in fraud prevention due to lack of regulatory oversight.Airtel Vice Chairman and MD Gopal Vittal, in a letter to NPCI MD & CEO Dilip Asbe, proposed “closer collaboration to create a repository of known fraudulent financial domains,” and favoured joint public awareness campaigns and technical cooperation to counter online scams.“The external threat landscape is evolving rapidly. Systems like MuleHunter.ai are useful, but still reactive,” Vittal wrote to the RBI, stressing that fraud must be stopped at the first step—when a user attempts to access a malicious site.The telco’s proposal received positive responses from banks and the NPCI, sources said. Airtel has also sought to join forces with Jio and Vodafone Idea to initiate a joint industry-level defence against telecom-based scams.In the first nine months of 2024 alone, India reported over 1.7 million cybercrime complaints, resulting in losses exceeding Rs 11,000 crore. These figures underscore the urgency of building a coordinated, tech-driven ecosystem like DPIP to shield consumers and financial systems from the growing digital threat.
