Union Home Minister Amit Shah called for coordinated and immediate action by all stakeholders to curb cyberfraud on Tuesday (February 10, 2026), stating that if steps were not taken, it would turn into a national crisis.
Stating that cybersecurity was no longer just an issue of economic security, Mr. Shah said it was now also linked to national security. “It is therefore our collective responsibility to firmly secure the economic, social, administrative, and national security dimensions, and to advance the digital revolution.”
Addressing the national conference on ‘Tackling Cyber-Enabled Frauds & Dismantling the Ecosystem’, organised by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Mr. Shah said there should be better coordination among stakeholders, including banks and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C).
The Home Minister said I4C, State police, CBI, National Investigation Agency, Enforcement Directorate, Department of Telecommunications, Department of Banking, Ministry of Information Technology, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the judiciary were working together to prevent cybercrime.
Digital payments explosion
He noted that over the past 11 years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the number of internet users has grown from 250 million to over one billion. Mr. Shah further stated that in 2024, more than 181 billion UPI transactions, involving over ₹233 trillion, were recorded. He added that 97% of total payment transactions are now carried out digitally, with that figure reaching 99% in terms of volume.
“Keeping these transactions secure is now our top priority,” he said, adding that as of February 2026, over 570 million Jan Dhan accounts had been opened. The number of RuPay debit cards had reached 398.1 million and was expected to surpass nearly 500 million by December 2026.
Speaking about the multi-pronged strategy adopted by the Union Home Ministry, Mr. Shah said its key pillars include real-time reporting of cybercrimes, a robust network of forensic laboratories, capacity building, research and development, spreading cyber awareness in society, and ensuring cyber hygiene in cyberspace.
He said that from January 2020 to November 30, 2025, the I4C reporting portal had been used over 230 million times. By November 2025, over 8.2 million cybercrime complaints had been filed through the portal, of which 1.84 lakh were converted into First Information Reports, with a large number of complaints effectively resolved.
By December 2025, about 62 banks and financial institutions across the country had become part of the system. The Ministry has set a target of onboarding all banking and financial institutions, including cooperative banks, before December 2026.
₹8,189 crore ‘rescued’
Mr. Shah hailed the rescue of ₹8,189 crore from cybercriminals over the past four years, which was made on the basis of 3.61 lakh complaints, as a major achievement. “Estimates suggest that the total fraud amounted to ₹20,000 crore, of which we have frozen or returned ₹8,189 crore to the victims,” he said. He added that by December 2025, the Home Ministry had cancelled 1.2 million suspicious SIM cards and blocked the IMEI numbers of three lakh mobile devices. In all, 20,853 accused had been arrested.
He urged all police units across the country to deploy adequate call handlers at the 1930 call centre to ensure timely action. Similarly, he said, all private, public, and cooperative banks should immediately adopt the Mule Account Hunter software, jointly developed by the Government of India and the RBI.
The Home Minister said that 795 institutions had joined the I4C, including banks, fintech companies, non-banking financial companies, and e-commerce platforms. All these institutions should prioritise I4C and ensure prompt responses to its calls, he noted. He added that the 362 delegates took part in the conference.
Published – February 10, 2026 11:21 pm IST
