AMCHAM organized a high-level cyber security roundtable meeting featuring Dr. Abhijit Phukon, Economic Adviser and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India on May 22^nd in New Delhi. The session brought together senior government officials and industry leaders to address critical cyber security challenges facing India’s digital economy and financial services sector. Key themes discussed during the meeting included India’s cyber security framework, digital payment security challenges, fraud prevention strategies, and collaborative approaches to enhance cyber resilience across the financial ecosystem. The session opened with discussions on the interconnected digital landscape, highlighting the critical need for robust IT infrastructure protection amid increasing cyber threats. Participants noted that during recent geopolitical tensions, cyber-attacks occurred simultaneously with physical conflicts, with thousands of cyber attempts targeting government and financial institutions. The banking ecosystem’s resilience was emphasized, with a focus on implementing comprehensive guardrails to secure financial transactions and protect the broader sector including insurance.

India’s leadership position in the global digital economy was underscored, with digital services contributing 13.5% to GDP and projections reaching 20% by 2030. The meeting highlighted that 83% of digital transactions are processed via UPI, enabling rapid payments but also increasing fraud risks due to transaction speeds of 6-7 milliseconds. In FY24, there were 27 lakh cyber fraud cases worth ₹4,800 crore, with over 5,000 daily cases often linked to OTP and password compromises, emphasizing the urgent need for enhanced customer awareness. Dr. Phukon outlined India’s comprehensive cyber security framework, featuring a national coordination body, ministry-led prevention efforts, and cybercrime classification as organized crime since 2020. Sector-specific standards are being enforced through initiatives including mock drills, IT audits, and a pilot program for electronic FIRs in Delhi NCR to accelerate fraud response mechanisms. The resilience of top banks was noted during recent crises, with institutions maintaining services through robust backup systems.

Col Surender Kumar Rohilla, Standard Development Authority, Directorate of Standardisation, Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, emphasized the critical need for cyber security in India’s digital economy, noting stark similarities with Dr. Phukon’s DFS insights on speed, trust, and customization in financial and defense systems. He highlighted that cyber security knows no borders, requiring global cooperation to counter sophisticated cyber threats. The government is advancing data capture, public-private collaboration, and awareness to ensure digital resilience.

Industry participants shared valuable insights and proposals. A global payment company representative offered collaboration on best practices to tackle millisecond-speed frauds and committed to sharing cyber awareness campaigns. Another payment company highlighted UPI’s transaction dominance and suggested anonymized data sharing for fraud detection, while acknowledging high compliance costs for smaller entities. The government financial department confirmed proactive engagement with companies on cyber security matters and announced an upcoming awareness campaign targeting fraud hotspots and educational institutions.

Action items identified include:

• Launch of a comprehensive cyber awareness campaign within weeks, focusing on fraud hotspots and schools, with industry collaboration
• Enhanced collaboration with regulatory bodies to improve data capturing mechanisms and explore anonymized data sharing frameworks for fraud detection
• Industry submission of detailed suggestions on data sharing protocols and compliance cost optimization through business associations.

Next steps involve:

• Follow-up monitoring of the awareness campaign implementation and data-sharing framework development in subsequent meetings
• Continued discussions on regulatory harmonization and compliance cost mitigation strategies for smaller financial entities.

The roundtable emphasized the critical importance of public-private collaboration in addressing cyber security challenges and fraud prevention, with particular focus on customer awareness programs and improved data-sharing frameworks to strengthen India’s digital financial ecosystem.