Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia announced the launch of ‘Financial Fraud Risk Indicator’, calls it India’s “Kawach” against cyber-enabled financial frauds

In a major stride towards securing India’s digital economy, Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya M. Scindia announced the launch of the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Developed under the Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), FRI is a tech-enabled tool that classifies mobile numbers into Medium, High, or Very High risk based on intelligence inputs from multiple sources, including the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), DoT’s Chakshu platform, and alerts from financial institutions.

This classification is then shared with banks, UPI platforms, and NBFCs in real time, enabling them to conduct additional checks or block payments before they are completed.

How it works: When a digital transaction is initiated, the recipient’s mobile number is cross-checked against the FRI database. If the number has a high-risk score, due to past association with fraud or flagged misuse, an alert is triggered. Depending on the platform, this could lead to transaction delays, on-screen warnings, or outright blocking of the payment. PhonePe, an early adopter, has successfully implemented FRI to decline transactions to Very High risk numbers and issue preemptive alerts for Medium risk ones. As UPI continues to dominate India’s digital payments landscape, the rollout of FRI marks a timely and collaborative move to shield millions from cyber fraud, fortify trust, and bring systemic resilience to India’s digital ecosystem.