SDG 9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure | SDG 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
Institutions: Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology | Ministry of Home Affairs | Ministry of Communications
India’s expanding digital footprint—now reaching 86 % of households—has brought both inclusion and vulnerability. The PIB backgrounder on Curbing Cyber Frauds in Digital India (8 Oct 2025) reports that cyber-security incidents more than doubled from 10.29 lakh (2022) to 22.68 lakh (2024). The Government has responded with a coordinated defence system combining law, technology, capacity-building, and citizen outreach.
Scale and Measures.
₹ 782 crore allocated in Union Budget 2025-26 for cybersecurity projects.
9.42 lakh SIMs and 2.63 lakh IMEIs linked to frauds blocked.
Helpline 1930 operational for instant complaint and transaction-freezing.
CERT-In conducted 109 mock drills across 1,438 organisations, while I4C blocked nearly 84 000 WhatsApp accounts tied to fraud networks.
The DoT’s Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) now classifies suspicious phone numbers by risk level.
Legal and Institutional Backbone.
Cyber governance rests on three key laws: the Information Technology Act 2000, IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023—together mandating accountability for intermediaries, lawful data use, and rapid removal of unlawful content. The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) safeguards critical systems, while the Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP) and the Samanvaya & Sahyog portals enable coordinated investigation and swift content-takedown.
Emerging Threats & Policy Response.
Fraud typologies are evolving—from AI-based deepfakes and phishing to UPI spoofing and online-gaming scams generating ₹ 400 crore in illicit proceeds. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 bans money gaming but promotes e-sports and social games under regulation. Over 1.05 lakh police officers have trained via the CyTrain portal, and NM-ICPS drives research in AI-enabled cyber defence.
The framework marks a shift from reactive policing to proactive cyber-governance, linking Digital India with national security objectives. Integration of citizen portals, forensic labs, and AI-driven analytics underlines India’s move toward a whole-of-nation cyber resilience model.
This PIB backgrounder consolidates data from multiple official sources, including MeitY, MHA, DoT, NSCS, and the Union Budget 2025–26, rather than from a single report. It serves as an integrated policy brief prepared by the Press Information Bureau Headquarters, compiling verified statistics, legislative updates, and ministry initiatives related to cybersecurity and digital governance.
What is CERT-In? → The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is India’s national agency for monitoring, analysing, and responding to cyber incidents. It issues advisories, coordinates mitigation, and conducts simulation exercises to strengthen organisational cyber-resilience.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders:
How can India institutionalise continuous, multi-agency cyber-coordination to keep pace with the speed of emerging fraud technologies?
Follow the full release here: PIB – Curbing Cyber Frauds in Digital India