Government Forms Inter-Ministerial Group for Financial Cybersecurity Strategy

India's central government has formed an inter-ministerial group (IMG) tasked with creating a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy for the nation's financial sector. This initiative comes in response to growing concerns over risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI) models and the rapid digitization of banking and payment systems.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed parliament that while digital infrastructure has benefited the financial sector, rising incidents of phishing, ransomware attacks, data breaches, and identity theft necessitate stronger safeguards. She indicated that advanced AI models could introduce new challenges to the sector's growth, security, and stability.

The IMG's mandate is to assess these emerging cyber threats and recommend mitigation measures to enhance protection against cybercrime. To further combat fraud, the government also highlighted the India Digital Payment Intelligence Corporation (IDPIC), established to share real-time fraud intelligence using AI and big data analytics.

IDPIC, incorporated in 2025, employs AI and machine learning to detect and analyze fraud in digital payment transactions. The country's existing cybersecurity framework also includes a National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) managed by CERT-In, which monitors network traffic for threat detection.