The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) have signed a comprehensive memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enhance information sharing and coordination and strengthen India’s fight against misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crimes and financial frauds,

Key highlights of the partnership include:

  • Enhanced data sharing mechanisms: Real-time sharing of financial fraud risk indicator (FRI) data, which classifies mobile numbers as medium, high, or very high risk based on their association with financial fraud.
  • DoT will share mobile number revocation list (MNRL) data, including the date and reason of such disconnection, with FIU-IND on an automatic basis.
  • FIU-IN will share mobile numbers linked to accounts involved in suspicious transaction reports (STRs) related to cyber fraud and money mule activities.
  • Information exchange will be facilitated leveraging advanced technology platforms like DoT’s Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) and FIU-IND’s Finnex 2.0 portal.
  • System-based exchange portals will enable secure, real-time data transmission between the agencies.

Moreover, the collaboration will significantly enhance the country’s ability to:

  • Prevent financial crimes: By combining DoT’s telecom intelligence with FIU-IND’s financial intelligence, authorities can now identify and act against fraudulent mobile connections before they cause financial damage to citizens.
  • Protect digital transactions: The shared FRI data will enable financial institutions to implement enhanced risk checks for mobile numbers flagged as high-risk during digital payment transactions.
  • Real-time intelligence for proactive action: The MoU enables both agencies to move from reactive to pro-active fraud detection and prevention. The FRI, developed through multi-dimensional analysis using inputs from various sources including DoT’s Chakshu platform (Sanchar Saathi), intelligence from financial institutions and law enforcement agencies (LEAs), will provide early warning signals about potentially fraudulent mobile numbers.

The MoU will facilitate the development of standard operating procedures for information sharing, enable feedback mechanisms to strengthen fraud detection analytics at the national level, and support the issuance of guidelines and red flag indicators to financial institutions for improved fraud prevention.

Commenting on the collaboration, secretary, DoT highlighted the evolving role of technology across departments. “As technology advances, departments have leveraged it to achieve their respective goals. While this is an essential first step, true progress lies in transcending departmental boundaries to address existing gaps. Developing synergies by learning from each other is crucial. We could consider establishing a joint working group as the next step, focusing on identifying shell companies and conducting deeper, collaborative analysis and detection.”

Meanwhile, secretary (Revenue), underscored the importance of partnership in maximising technological potential. He stated, “This is an excellent collaboration where both sides contribute to enhancing each other’s systems. Given the technology-driven nature of this partnership, I am confident it will deliver high efficiency in terms of accuracy and timeliness, enabling us to make optimal use of the data.”