New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND), on 25 September, to strengthen India’s defences against cybercrime and financial fraud, signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enable real-time intelligence sharing and coordinated action.
The agreement was inked by Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Deputy Director General of DoT’s Artificial Intelligence & Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU) and Amit Mohan Govil, Director of FIU-IND, in the presence of Telecom Secretary Dr Neeraj Mittal and Revenue Secretary Arvind Shrivastava.
The collaboration will connect DoT’s Digital Intelligence Platform with FIU-IND’s Finnex 2.0 portal for secure, system-based data exchange.
Under the partnership, FIU-IND will provide mobile numbers linked to suspicious transactions and money mule activities, while DoT will share its Mobile Number Revocation List and Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) data, which categorises numbers as medium, high, or very high risk. This mechanism is designed to help banks and financial institutions prevent fraudulent transactions from occurring and block losses.
Officials highlighted that the tie-up builds on DoT’s Sanchar Saathi platform, which has already helped disconnect 2.84 crore fake mobile connections and prevented fraud worth Rs 140 crore. Dr Mittal called for a joint working group to identify shell companies and deepen collaborative analysis, while Shrivastava described the alliance as a model of technology-driven efficiency.
The MoU also sets the stage for standard operating procedures, feedback systems and red-flag guidelines to keep pace with evolving cyber threats, reinforcing India’s fast-growing digital payments ecosystem with stronger telecom cybersecurity.
