The advisory, issued on 30 June, comes as India’s digital payments ecosystem—especially the Unified Payments Interface (UPI)—continues to see widespread adoption
In a move aimed at bolstering safeguards against rising cyber-enabled financial fraud, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed all Scheduled Commercial Banks, Small Finance Banks, Payments Banks, and Co-operative Banks to integrate the Department of Telecom’s (DoT) Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) into their operational systems.
The advisory, issued on 30 June, comes as India’s digital payments ecosystem—especially the Unified Payments Interface (UPI)—continues to see widespread adoption. The FRI, launched in May 2025 by the DoT’s Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU), is a mobile-number-based real-time risk assessment tool that classifies numbers into Medium, High, or Very High fraud risk categories. The tool draws data from several sources, including the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) managed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the DoT’s Chakshu platform, and reports from financial institutions.
The classification system enables banks and other financial services providers to take preemptive actions such as flagging high-risk transactions, delaying or declining suspicious activity, and strengthening authentication processes. Several major financial players, including PhonePe, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank, India Post Payments Bank, and Paytm, have already adopted the FRI system to monitor potentially fraudulent mobile numbers.
With the RBI’s latest directive, the use of FRI is expected to expand across the entire banking sector. The FRI system is part of a broader effort by the DoT to embed telecom data intelligence into the country’s financial security infrastructure. It includes API-based integration with the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), which facilitates real-time information exchange and allows for ongoing updates to risk models.
In addition, the DoT maintains a Mobile Number Revocation List (MNRL), which is shared with stakeholders and flags numbers disconnected due to cybercrime associations, failed re-verification, or misuse. The list serves as an additional source of risk intelligence to help banks and fintech companies respond swiftly to emerging threats.
With UPI serving as the primary mode of digital payments for millions of Indians, the integration of telecom-based fraud detection tools into financial systems is seen as critical. Authorities say the initiative will enable faster and more collaborative responses to suspicious activity, enhancing the security of digital financial transactions.
The DoT believes the FRI will contribute significantly to the government’s broader Digital India vision by fostering greater digital trust, improving early fraud detection, and encouraging inter-agency cooperation. Over time, the framework is expected to become a standardised element of India’s digital financial infrastructure, delivering real-time security and improved resilience against cybercrime.
