In response to a sharp spike in digital payment frauds, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is joining forces with major public and private sector banks to build the Digital Payment Intelligence Platform (DPIP), a real-time, data-driven system aimed at detecting and preventing fraudulent digital transactions.
The initiative, reported first by PTI, is a strategic move to bolster India’s fast-expanding digital payments infrastructure with more robust fraud risk management tools.
The RBI’s latest annual report highlights the alarming rise in bank fraud, which surged nearly threefold to ₹36,014 crore in the fiscal year 2025, compared to ₹12,230 crore the previous year. Public sector banks reported frauds amounting to ₹25,667 crore, a significant increase from ₹9,254 crore in FY24. This spike in fraudulent activities has prompted the urgent need for a robust system like DPIP to enhance fraud detection and prevention measures across the banking landscape.
To combat this, the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) has been tasked with developing the DPIP prototype in collaboration with 5 to 10 leading banks. According to the PTI report, a high-level meeting involving senior executives from the banking industry and RBI officials was held recently to finalise the platform’s institutional structure. The initiative is marked as a top priority and is likely to go live within months.
Fintech Leaders Say Real-time Detection Is Crucial
According to Deepak Chand Thakur, Co-founder and CEO, NPST, the DPIP initiative is both timely and strategic. He emphasised that today’s fraudsters are exploiting gaps in information flow and the fragmented nature of financial systems. “Threat actors are leveraging unusual device activity, location mismatches, and anomalous transaction velocity,” he said. By fostering real-time collaboration, the Digital Payment Intelligence Platform (DPIP) enables stakeholders to instantly flag and intercept these anomalies.
The DPIP also responds to broader concerns from telecom players. Airtel, in a recent communication to over 40 banks, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and RBI, proposed creating a repository of known fraudulent domains. This would help in the proactive blocking of rogue websites and scam platforms. Airtel Vice Chairman and MD Gopal Vittal noted that over-the-top (OTT) messaging platforms are often used to circulate scam links and remain the weakest link in fraud prevention due to their lack of regulatory oversight.
“Systems like MuleHunter.ai are useful, but still reactive,” Vittal stated in his letter, urging regulators to block threats at the very first point of user interaction—before transactions or logins happen.
Transaction Volumes Soar, So Do Risks
Digital payments are scaling rapidly. In May 2025 alone, UPI transaction volumes crossed Rs 25.14 lakh crore, underlining the growing scale and corresponding risk of digital financial services.
“DPIP represents a shift toward a preventive risk management framework,” said Thakur of NPST, adding that as India continues to innovate in real-time payments, building intelligent fraud defences becomes non-negotiable. He stressed that “true progress of Digital India will not be measured solely by transaction volumes, but by the trust and security with which citizens, especially in rural Bharat, engage with the digital economy.”
If implemented effectively, DPIP could transform India’s approach to digital financial security, moving from fragmented, after-the-fact interventions to data-driven, proactive prevention. Fintech leaders unanimously view it as a foundational layer for building trust and resilience in India’s booming digital economy.
