Seen from a larger perspective, it reflected that cybercrime had reached the far corners of the country.

India ranked 10th in the world cybercrime index a couple of years ago. Russia, Ukraine, China, and the US were on top of the list.

Clearly, digital India now has a problem on its hands: cybercrime and its rise. More than 85% of Indian households are now connected to the Internet, and this rapid increase in mobile telephone connectivity could well turn it into a national security threat.

According to official data, instances of cybercrime rose from 10.29 lakh in 2022 to 22.68 lakh in 2024. Sources said the actual numbers are many times more than those reported.

“These are the reported figures, but often when the value of monetary loss is not huge or alarming, people ignore it, and they go unregistered,” a senior bank official told The Secretariat. He pointed out that there were also lakhs of attempted cases, which fortunately did not result in any loss.

Pain Points

India currently has about 500 cybercrime police stations. The complaint: procedural hassles and lapses.

"I had a mysterious phone call asking me to give my bank account details. I turned it down, but when I went to register a police complaint, I got a weak response. Since I had not lost any money, I decided not to waste time in pursuing the issue," a resident of Gurugram said. 

The financial loss is telling, running into multiple crores of rupees. A government statement noted that though “the numbers point to increasing challenges, they also highlight remarkable progress in the nation’s detection and reporting mechanisms.”

AI And Its Role

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is proving to be a double-edged sword, the banker said. If channelised appropriately, it can help in fighting cybercrime, but the same is being used extensively to carry out crimes.

G.C. Murmu, former Comptroller General of India, had earlier said that cyber criminals have a history of embracing cutting-edge technologies. “There are reports of AI-powered malware being developed to evade two-factor authorisations like One Time Passwords (OTP), security software, and spam filters,” he had said.

A State Bank of India report recently highlighted that while the overall crime rate in India has come down, cybercrime instances have risen.

Cooperatives, Rural Banks Most Vulnerable

The most vulnerable are the country’s cooperatives, regional rural banks, and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Putting in place the additional mechanisms to curb cybercrime would mean larger expenses, which a large number of cooperative banks may not be in a position to implement.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other regulators have got into action.

RBI is coordinating with security agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA), and Enforcement Directorate (ED), along with the Telecommunications Department, to address this situation.  

India’s regulators need to act fast.