Lok Sabha Question No. 5124 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-24
Subject: Cyber Secure Bharat
Ministry: HOME AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Naveen Jindal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5124

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 24 TH  MARCH, 2026/ CHAITRA 3, 1948 (SAKA)

CYBER SECURE BHARAT

5124. SHRI NAVEEN JINDAL:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has formulated any framework against illegal payment  gateways  created  using  mule  bank  accounts  by  Transnational Organized Cyber criminals, facilitating money laundering as a service, if so, the details thereof; and

(b) the preventive steps taken being taken by the Government to create a 'Cyber Secure Bharat'?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI BANDI SANJAY KUMAR)

(a) & (b): Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reviews the cyber security developments  and  threats  on  an  ongoing  basis  in  order  to  strengthen security  of  digital  transactions  and  necessary  measures  are  taken  to strengthen the cyber resilience of banks.

RBI  has  advised  the  banks  to  establish  robust  procedures  and processes to imbibe 'security by design' principle in development of mobile banking applications including  UPI  applications,  with  appropriate  testing mechanism through confidential circulars/advisories/alerts/caution advice.

## L.S.US.Q.NO. 5124 FOR 24.03.2026

RBI has taken various measures to address the issue of cyber-enabled frauds  and  suspected  mule  accounts  which,  inter-alia,  includes  close monitoring of any misuse of the banking channels for proliferation of the cyber-enabled frauds; issuance of various Confidential Advisories delineating  specific  actions  to  be  taken  by  the  banks  in  mitigating  the misuse  of  banking  channel  through  robust  systems;  focused  thematic assessments in major banks with high-number of money mule accounts; regular  outreach  programmes  through  seminars  /  workshops  conducted, etc.    Further,  the  banks  have  been  advised  to  ensure  deployment  and adoption of robust software for real-time transaction monitoring and use of Artificial  Intelligence/Machine  Learning  tools  in  detecting  suspicious  and fraudulent  transaction  patterns  as  well  as  use  of  network  analytics  in identifying mule networks.

The  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  set  up  the  'Indian  Cyber  Crime Coordination Centre' (I4C) as an attached office to deal with all types of cyber crimes in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.

The 'National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal' (NCRP) (https://cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched. A toll-free Helpline number '1930' has been operationaliz ed to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.

## L.S.US.Q.NO. 5124 FOR 24.03.2026

The 'Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System' (CFCFRMS),  under  I4C,  has  been  launched  in  year  2021  for  immediate reporting  of  financial  frauds  and  to  stop  siphoning  off  funds  by  the fraudsters. Till 31.01.2026, financial amount of more than Rs. 8,690 Crore has been saved in more than 24.65 lakh complaints.

A State of  the  Art,  Cyber  Fraud  Mitigation  Centre  (CFMC)  has  been established at I4C where  representatives  of major  banks,  Financial Intermediaries, Payment  Aggregators, Telecom  Service Providers, IT Intermediaries and representatives of States/UTs Law Enforcement Agency are  working  together  for  immediate  action  and  seamless  cooperation  to tackle cybercrime.

A Suspect Registry of identifiers of cyber criminals has been launched by I4C on 10.09.2024 in collaboration with Banks/Financial Institutions. Till 31.01.2026,  more  than  23.05  lakh  suspect  identifier  data  received  from Banks and 27.37 lakh Layer 1 mule accounts have been shared with the participating entities of Suspect Registry and declined transactions worth Rs. 9518.91 crores.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has formed CyMAC (Cyber Multi Agency Centre) under the MAC  (Multi Agency Centre)  platform  on 22.01.2025 with

the objective to effectively address cybersecurity threats, cyber espionage, misuse  of  emerging  technologies  and  similar  concerns  against  national security.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team  (CERT-In) is designated  as  the  national  agency  for  responding  to  cyber  security incidents, under the provisions of section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000. CERT-In has taken following measures to provide assistance to all States and UTs for enhancing cyber security and prevent cyber attacks:

- i. CERT-In issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats/vulnerabilities and countermeasures  to  protect computers, networks and data on an ongoing basis.
- ii. National  Cyber  Coordination  Centre  (NCCC)  implemented  by  CERT-In, examines the cyberspace to detect cyber security threats. It shares the information  with  concerned  State  Governments,  organisations  across sectors, and stakeholder agencies for taking action.
- iii. CERT-In  operates  an  automated  cyber  threat  exchange  platform  for proactively collecting, analysing and sharing tailored alerts with State Governments  and  organisations  across  sectors  for  proactive  threat mitigation actions by them.

## L.S.US.Q.NO. 5124 FOR 24.03.2026

- iv. Cyber Swachhta Kendra (CSK) is a service provided by CERT-In, which extends the vision of Swachh Bharat to the cyber space. Cyber Swachhta Kendra helps to detect malicious programs and vulnerable services and provide remedial measures to organisations across States and sectors.
- v. CERT-In has empanelled 237 security auditing organisations to support and audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
- vi. Cyber security mock drills are conducted regularly to enable assessment of cyber security posture and preparedness of organisations in Government (Central & States)  and  critical  sectors.  Workshops  along with these drills are conducted in States for facilitating coordination and information sharing in the area of cyber security.
- vii. CERT-In has launched a specific cybersecurity program 'Cyber Bharat Setu' which focuses on promoting cybersecurity culture in States/UTs. Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir Administration participated in this program in 2025.
- viii. CERT-In conducts joint cyber security training programs in collaboration with  Industry  partners  to  upskill  the  cyber  security  workforce  in Government (Central & States), public and private organizations across sectors.

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