Lok Sabha Question No. 3949 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-18
Subject: UPI Transaction
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Chandra Sekhar Bellana, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3949

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 18.03.2020

## UPI TRANSACTION

## 3949:        SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR BELLANA: SHRI MAGUNTA SREENIVASULU REDDY

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

- (a)        the  number of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transaction conducted in the country during the last year, month-wise and State/UT-wise;
- (b)   whether the Government has ensured the safety of such UPI transaction and if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c)      whether  any  grievance  platform  has  been  provided  by  the  Government  to  the  user  to register their complaint regarding UPI Transactions; and
- (d)   if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

- (a): Unified Payments Interface (UPI) based digital transactions have observed a significant growth over the last few years. State/UT-wise transaction details are not maintained, however month-wise total number of UPI transactions in the country during the last calendar year is as under:

| Month (Year 2019)   |   Total number of UPI Transactions (Crores) |
|---------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| Jan'19              |                                       67.27 |
| Feb'19              |                                       67.42 |
| Mar'19              |                                       79.95 |
| Apr'19              |                                       78.18 |
| May'19              |                                       73.35 |
| Jun'19              |                                       75.45 |
| Jul'19              |                                       82.23 |
| Aug'19              |                                       91.83 |
| Sep'19              |                                       95.5  |
| Oct'19              |                                      114.84 |
| Nov'19              |                                      121.88 |

(b):  Yes,  Sir.  Government  has  taken  following  measures  to  enhance  the  security  of  digital payment systems including UPI transactions:

-  The  Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response  Team  (CERT-In)  issues  alerts  and advisories  regarding  latest  cyber  threats  and  countermeasures  on  regular  basis  to ensure safe usage of digital technologies. Regarding securing digital payments, 28 advisories have been issued for users and institutions.
-  All  authorized  entities/  banks  issuing  PPIs  (Pre  Paid  Instruments)  in  the  country have  been  advised  by  Reserve  Bank  of  India  to  carry  out  special  audit  by empanelled auditors of  CERT-In on a priority basis and to take immediate steps thereafter to comply with the findings of the audit report and ensure implementation of security best practices.
-  Government has issued guidelines for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) regarding their key roles and responsibilities for securing applications / infrastructure and compliance.
-  Government has empanelled 90 security auditing organisations to support and audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
-  Government has formulated Crisis Management Plan for countering cyber attacks and cyber terrorism for implementation by all Ministries/ Departments of Central Government, State Governments and their organizations and critical sectors.
-  Cyber security mock drills are being conducted regularly to enable assessment of cyber  security  posture  and  preparedness  of  organizations  in  Government  and critical sectors. 44 such drills have so far been conducted by CERT-In where 265 organizations from different States and sectors such as Finance, Defence, Power, Telecom, Transport, Energy, Space, IT/ITeS, etc participated. Out of these drills, 9 drills  were  conducted  in  coordination  with  the  Reserve  Bank  of  India  and  The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology for financial sector organizations.
-  CERT-In conducts regular training programmes for network / system administrators  and  Chief  Information  Security  Officers  (CISOs)  of  Government and  critical  sector  organisations  regarding  securing  the  IT  infrastructure  and mitigating cyber attacks.
-  Government  has  launched  the  Cyber  Swachhta  Kendra  (Botnet  Cleaning  and Malware  Analysis  Centre). The  centre is providing detection of malicious programs and free tools to remove the same.
-  Under the Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) Project Phase-I (2005-2014),  more  than  44,000  candidates  were  trained  in  various  formal/nonformal  courses  in  Information  Security  through  40  institutions.  Around  100 Government officials  were  trained  as  Master  Trainers  in  the  area  of  Information Security.

(d):    Ministry  of  Electronics  &  Information  Technology  (MeitY)  has  integrated  Digital Payment  Grievances  along with National Consumer  Helpline  (NCH)  platform  of Department  of  Consumer  Affairs  (DoCA)  in  addition  to  the  existing  Grievance  redressal mechanism of digital payments of the respective banks and NPCI. The Platform is live and receiving Digital Payment related grievances.

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