TTN Explainer: What Is RBI’s Bank.in Domain, Rolled Out To Fight Financial Fraud
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced the launch of ‘bank.in’, an exclusive internet domain for banks to tackle rising cases of financial fraud.
During a press briefing after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, where a 25 basis points reduction in the repo rate was announced, new RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra also unveiled plans for stricter authentication protocols for digital transactions.
What is bank.in domain?
The newly announced bank.in domain is the latest step from the RBI to counter the rising cases of cyber-related banking fraud in the country. The move aims to help customers distinguish fraudulent banking websites from real ones.
The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) will be the exclusive registrar for the new domain. Detailed guidelines about the new domain will be issued to banks.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, who headed his first MPC after taking charge last month, asked banks to develop robust incident response and recovery mechanisms for instances of cyber financial fraud.
“They (banks) must develop robust incident response and recovery mechanisms, reinforced through periodic testing, for operational resilience,” he said.
The RBI Governor also highlighted the central bank’s efforts to enhance digital security in the banking and payments system. “The surge in digital fraud is a matter of concern. It warrants action by all stakeholders. The Reserve Bank has been taking various measures to enhance digital security in the banking and payment system,” he said.
Sanjay Malhotra announced the extension of two-factor authentication for international transactions made to offshore merchants This requirement is mandatory for domestic transactions only.
“Introduction of Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) for domestic digital payments is one such measure. It is proposed to extend AFA to online international digital payments made to offshore merchants, who are enabled for such authentication,” he said.
Draft circular for AFA will be issued after feedback from the stakeholders, he added.
According to a report by news agency PTI based on RBI data, banking fraud cases in India surged 27% year-on-year to 18,461 in the first of FY in comparison to 14,480 cases in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
The total amount involved in the fraud rose nearly eightfold to Rs 21,367 crore in H1 of FY25, marking a sharp uptick from Rs 2,623 crore in the year-ago period.
