Lok Sabha Question No. 211 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-11-25
Subject: Fraud in UPI Transactions
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Dr. Alok Kumar Suman

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF FINANCE

## DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 211

ANSWERED ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2024/AGRAHAYANA 04, 1946 (SAKA)

## Fraud in UPI Transactions

## 211.  DR. ALOK KUMAR SUMAN:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

(a)  the  number  of  Unified  Payment  Interface  (UPI)  transaction  conducted  in  the  country including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh during the last two years and the current year, month-wise and  state/UT-wise  along  with  the  number  of  incidents  of  frauds  reported  in  the  UPI  cash transactions;

(b) the measures taken by the government for safe and secure UPI transaction and prevention of fraud in the transactions; and

(c) whether the Apex Bank proposes to link UPI with fast payment systems of other countries for payments and if so, the steps taken by the Government for financial sector user for ease of payments?

## Answer

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)

(a)  Reserve  Bank  of  India  (RBI)  has  informed  that  the  Unified  Payment  Interface  (UPI) transactions  do  not  capture  the  geographical  location.  However,  the  UPI  transactions conducted in the country including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh during the last two financial years and the current financial year is attached as Annexure-I.

RBI has implemented Central Payment Fraud Information Registry  (CPFIR), a web-based payment related fraud reporting tool since march 2020. All the Regulated Entities (RE) are required to report the payment related frauds to the said CPFIR. The year-wise UPI domestic payments frauds reported during the last two financial years and the current financial year is attached as Annexure-II.

(b) In  order  to  prevent  payment  related  frauds  including  UPI  transaction  frauds,  various initiatives have been taken by the Government, RBI and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) from time to time. These, inter alia, includes device binding between customer mobile number and the device, two factor authentication through PIN, daily transaction limit, limits and curbs on use cases etc. Further, NPCI provides a fraud monitoring solution to all the banks to enable them to alert and decline transactions for fraud mitigation by using AI/ML based models. RBI and Banks have also been taking awareness campaigns through short SMS, radio campaign, publicity on prevention of 'cyber-crime' etc.

In order to facilitate the citizens to report any cyber incidents including financial frauds, the Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  (MHA)  has  launched  a  National  Cybercrime  Reporting  Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) as well as a National Cybercrime Helpline Number '1930'. Further, customers can also report financial frauds on the official customer care website or branches of the banks.

Further Department of Telecommunications has launched Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) and  'Chakshu'  facility  on  Sanchar  Saathi  portal  (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in).  'Chakshu' facilitates  citizens  to  report  suspected  fraud  communication  received  over  call,  SMS  or WhatsApp with the intention of defrauding like KYC expiry or update of bank account / etc.

(c)  RBI's Payments Vision Document 2025 has outlined expanding the global outreach of UPI and RuPay cards as one of the key objectives under the 'internationalization' pillar.

In this regard, RBI is currently collaborating with various relevant stakeholders for expanding the outreach of UPI through following modes:

- i. Interlinking of UPI with Fast Payment System (FPS) of other countries for personal remittances on reciprocal basis.
- ii. Acceptance of UPI Apps via QR codes at merchant locations abroad and vice-versa.
- iii. Deployment of UPI-like infrastructure in other countries.

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## Annexure I

|           | Financial Year   | Financial Year   | Financial Year   | Financial Year   | Financial Year   | Financial Year   |
|-----------|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
| Months    | 2022-23          | 2022-23          | 2023-24          | 2023-24          | 2024-25*         | 2024-25*         |
|           | Volume (Cr)      | Value (Lakh Cr)  | Volume (Cr)      | Value (Lakh Cr)  | Volume (Cr)      | Value (Lakh Cr)  |
| April     | 558.44           | 9.84             | 886.33           | 14.16            | 1,330.40         | 19.64            |
| May       | 594.63           | 10.40            | 941.52           | 14.89            | 1,403.58         | 20.45            |
| June      | 586.29           | 10.14            | 933.51           | 14.75            | 1,388.51         | 20.07            |
| July      | 628.93           | 10.63            | 996.43           | 15.34            | 1,443.56         | 20.64            |
| August    | 658.19           | 10.73            | 1058.60          | 15.77            | 1,496.30         | 20.61            |
| September | 678.08           | 11.16            | 1055.57          | 15.79            | 1,504.17         | 20.64            |
| October   | 730.54           | 12.12            | 1140.88          | 17.16            |                  |                  |
| November  | 730.94           | 11.91            | 1123.53          | 17.40            |                  |                  |
| December  | 782.89           | 12.82            | 1202.02          | 18.23            |                  |                  |
| January   | 803.86           | 12.99            | 1220.30          | 18.41            |                  |                  |
| February  | 753.48           | 12.36            | 1210.27          | 18.28            |                  |                  |
| March     | 865.16           | 14.05            | 1344.00          | 19.78            |                  |                  |
| Total     | 8371.43          | 139.15           | 13112.96         | 199.96           | 8,566.52         | 122.05           |

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Annexure II

| UPI Domestic Payment Frauds   | UPI Domestic Payment Frauds   | UPI Domestic Payment Frauds   |
|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
| Financial Year                | No. of incidents (in Lakhs)   | Amount Involved (INR Crore)   |
| FY 2022-23                    | 7.25                          | 573                           |
| FY 2023-24                    | 13.42                         | 1087                          |
| FY 2024-25*                   | 6.32                          | 485                           |