The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued an advisory asking all banks to integrate the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) into their internal systems. This move is expected to significantly strengthen fraud detection capabilities in the banking sector by enabling real-time assessment of mobile number-related risks.
The RBI advisory, issued on June 30, is directed at Scheduled Commercial Banks, Co-operative Banks, Payments Banks, and Small Finance Banks. The FRI classifies mobile numbers into categories—Medium, High, and Very High Risk—based on data from cybercrime portals, telecom insights, and intelligence shared by financial institutions.
How the System Works
The FRI is developed by the DoT’s Digital Intelligence Unit and uses a secure API-based system to automate data exchange between banks and the DoT. Once integrated, banks will be able to validate mobile numbers against known fraud patterns, allowing them to take preventive actions such as delaying transactions, alerting customers, or outright declining high-risk requests.
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The DoT also maintains a Mobile Number Revocation List, which includes numbers previously disconnected due to fraud or misuse. This helps banks and fintech platforms stay updated on threats and revoke potentially compromised identifiers in real time.
Nationwide Rollout and Stakeholder Adoption
The system is already in use by major financial institutions including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, PhonePe, Paytm, and India Post Payments Bank. Its broader rollout is aimed at boosting UPI transaction security and reducing the incidence of social engineering scams, phishing, and mobile-based frauds.
This initiative aligns with the government’s broader Digital India mission, emphasizing public-private cooperation and data-driven tools to safeguard users in the growing digital economy. The DoT has reiterated its commitment to assisting banks and financial service providers in deploying this tool effectively across touchpoints.
With UPI becoming the backbone of India’s digital payments landscape, the integration of FRI is expected to play a vital role in enhancing transactional trust and fraud prevention at scale.
