In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, the Union Home and Cooperation Minister informed that the Government has taken several steps to strengthen the digital and cyber-safety framework of the cooperative banking sector.
The Minister said that so far, 23 State Cooperative Banks (StCBs), 85 District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) and 57 Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) have been integrated with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C).
States have also been advised to utilise Cyber Commandos, coordinated by I4C, for cybersecurity audits, vulnerability assessments and implementation of advisories issued by NABARD and Fin-CERT.
He further informed the House that all Registrars of Cooperative Societies (RCS) across States and Union Territories have been directed to ensure onboarding of all cooperative banks on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and I4C to facilitate quicker redressal of cyber-fraud complaints.
The Minister also highlighted that the UIDAI has significantly eased the onboarding norms for cooperative banks on the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) by rationalising licence fees. The licence fee is now linked to the number of transactions, and cooperative financial institutions will get three months of the pre-production phase free of cost.
Under the revised framework introduced on 1 August 2025, only State Cooperative Banks are required to onboard as AUA/KUA, while DCCBs can operate as sub-AUA/KUA through their respective StCBs. As of now, 11 StCBs, 52 DCCBs and 6 UCBs have been onboarded on AePS.
