- Ahmedabad strategy meet focuses on faster intelligence-sharing to curb telecom-enabled financial crimes before money vanishes
- Banks urged to integrate with Digital Intelligence Platform as DoT and RBI intensify coordinated action across Gujarat and DNH & DD
- Connectivity gaps in remote Dang district come under scanner to ensure uninterrupted banking and secure digital transactions
- Joint awareness campaigns planned to empower banks, institutions and citizens against rising cyber and telecom frauds
NE LAW & ECONOMICS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, JULY 8
As cybercriminals increasingly exploit mobile networks to siphon off hard-earned savings within minutes, two of India’s key regulatory institutions have stepped up efforts to ensure that technology stays one step ahead of fraudsters.
In a significant move to strengthen the country’s digital financial security architecture, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Gujarat Licensed Service Area (LSA) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ahmedabad Regional Office, have agreed to deepen institutional collaboration for combating telecom-enabled cybercrime and digital financial fraud through faster intelligence-sharing, stronger inter-agency coordination and wider public awareness.
The high-level coordination meeting, held in Ahmedabad on Monday, reviewed ongoing initiatives to prevent the misuse of telecom resources in cyber offences while charting out a roadmap for closer cooperation between telecom regulators, banks and financial institutions.
A detailed presentation by the Additional Director General (Digital Intelligence Unit), DoT, highlighted the Department’s multi-pronged initiatives to tackle telecom-enabled cybercrime. Particular emphasis was laid on the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), a technology-driven ecosystem designed to enable real-time information exchange and coordinated enforcement among government agencies, banks and telecom service providers.
A key focus of the meeting was accelerating the onboarding of banks across Gujarat and the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu onto the DIP portal. DoT urged RBI to facilitate the early integration of the remaining banks, enabling faster detection of suspicious telecom activity, improved intelligence-sharing and quicker intervention against digital financial fraud.
The meeting also addressed telecom connectivity challenges affecting banking services in the remote areas of Dang district. DoT Gujarat LSA assured RBI that it would work closely with telecom service providers to resolve connectivity bottlenecks at the earliest, ensuring uninterrupted banking access and secure digital transactions in underserved regions.
Recognising that technology alone cannot eliminate cybercrime, both organisations also discussed launching joint awareness and outreach programmes for banks and other stakeholders. These initiatives aim to educate institutions and the public about emerging cyber threats, safe digital practices and preventive measures against telecom-enabled financial fraud.
The collaborative initiative is expected to strengthen the country’s cyber resilience by combining regulatory oversight, technological intelligence and public awareness into a unified framework capable of responding more effectively to the rapidly evolving landscape of digital financial crime.
