DoT’s FRI and Sanchar Saathi Shield Indian Digital Payments
New Delhi: In just six months, vigilant citizens and a government-backed digital system have stopped cyber frauds worth an estimated ₹660 crore, highlighting the growing power of collective action in India’s financial ecosystem. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has reported that its Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI), operating through the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), has enabled banks, financial institutions, third-party application providers, and government agencies to detect and block suspicious transactions, safeguarding the digital financial landscape across the country.
Over 1,000 entities, including public and private sector banks, co-operative banks, payment system operators, and third-party application providers, have adopted DIP and actively use FRI to identify high-risk mobile numbers. The FRI classifies numbers as medium, high, or very high risk based on inputs from multiple sources, including the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre’s (I4C) National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, DoT’s Chakshu platform, intelligence shared by banks and telecom operators, and other regulatory and institutional stakeholders. This mechanism empowers financial institutions to decline or flag suspicious transactions before they translate into financial losses, which has helped prevent an estimated ₹660 crore in potential fraud.
Citizens have emerged as a decisive force in this effort through the Sanchar Saathi mobile application and web portal, available on both Android and iOS. The platform allows users to report suspicious calls and messages, check and manage mobile numbers registered in their name, block lost or stolen handsets, verify the authenticity of mobile devices, and access verified contact information for banks and financial institutions. By crowdsourcing intelligence, Sanchar Saathi not only protects individual users but also enables authorities and telecom operators to identify fraud patterns, disable unauthorised connections, and block repeat offenders. Since the initiative’s launch, sixteen knowledge-sharing sessions have been conducted by DoT to enhance stakeholder understanding and effective adoption of the platform.
The DIP integrates more than 1,050 organizations, including central security agencies, 36 State and Union Territory police forces, the GST Network, the Income Tax Department, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the Public Financial Management System, banks, financial institutions, telecom service providers, and social media platforms such as WhatsApp. This expansive institutional network, combined with proactive citizen participation, has created a robust, intelligence-driven ecosystem to prevent cyber fraud.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have been central collaborators in operationalising FRI, with additional coordination from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). This inter-agency cooperation ensures that financial transactions are continuously monitored, and high-risk activity is mitigated effectively, strengthening the overall resilience of India’s digital economy.
DoT emphasised that the FRI has been instrumental in detecting suspicious activity across public and private banks, co-operative banks, and third-party payment platforms, which have reported the largest number of transactions declined or flagged. Citizens’ active engagement through Sanchar Saathi has amplified the platform’s effectiveness, making the reporting and prevention process faster, more precise, and inclusive. The combination of technology, regulatory oversight, and citizen participation provides a model where collective action directly translates into economic protection and fraud prevention.
The Department of Telecommunications continues to encourage citizens to use the Sanchar Saathi portal and mobile app to report suspected fraudulent communications, unauthorised mobile connections, or lost and stolen devices. DoT reiterated its commitment to fostering a secure digital payments ecosystem through coordinated inter-agency action, proactive fraud detection, and intelligence-led policy interventions, underscoring that Jan Bhagidari, or citizen participation, is a central pillar in curbing cyber fraud and safeguarding India’s expanding digital financial landscape.
– global bihari bureau
