J&K Eyes Smarter Credit and Safer Digital Finance
KD NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, Sep 19: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Jammu, on Saturday organised a one-day conference on Financial Sector Initiatives and Cyber Security Awareness, bringing together senior officials of the Jammu and Kashmir administration, banking sector, police, financial institutions and technology-driven financial platforms to deliberate on strengthening credit delivery, expanding digital financial services and tackling the growing challenge of cyber fraud.
The conference was held at Hotel Taj Dal View, Srinagar, and was attended by Chief Secretary of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir Atal Dulloo (IAS) as the Chief Guest and RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain as the Special Guest. The event was held in the presence of Prabhakar Jha, Regional Director, RBI Jammu, and witnessed participation from senior government, banking, regulatory, police and financial technology officials.
Among those attending the conference were Chandraker Bharti (IAS), Principal Secretary, Home Department; M.K. Sinha (IPS), ADGP, CID; Commissioner/Secretaries and Administrative Secretaries from the Industries & Commerce, Housing & Urban Development, Planning, Development and Monitoring, Information, Revenue, and Labour &
Employment departments.
The banking and financial sector was represented by Amitava Chatterjee, MD & CEO, J&K Bank, besides controlling and zonal heads of banks operating across the Union Territory. Senior officers from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, RBI Central Office, Mumbai, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub, NABARD, NPCI and RXIL also participated in the deliberations.
The conference assumed significance against the backdrop of rapid digitisation of banking and financial services, the growing importance of technology-enabled credit delivery and the increasing need for coordinated action against cyber-enabled financial fraud.
Focus on priority sectors
Delivering the keynote address, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo highlighted the need to align financial sector initiatives with the development priorities of Jammu and Kashmir.
He said the UT administration has accorded priority to sectors including tourism, agriculture and allied activities, hydropower and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and stressed the importance of leveraging their inherent strengths through appropriate and timely credit support.
The Chief Secretary emphasised the need for expansion in agriculture term lending, upgrading existing self-help groups into meaningful enterprises and promoting handicrafts and niche products from Jammu and Kashmir.
He underlined that improved access to institutional finance could play an important role in enabling entrepreneurs, farmers, artisans, self-help groups and small businesses to expand their activities and create sustainable economic opportunities.
Dulloo also highlighted the potential of RBI’s Unified Lending Interface (ULI), describing it as an initiative that could accelerate credit delivery. He said ULI could accomplish for credit delivery what the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has achieved for retail payments by making financial transactions more seamless and technology-driven.
The Chief Secretary also highlighted the role of the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) in addressing liquidity constraints faced by MSMEs. By facilitating the discounting of eligible trade receivables, TReDS can provide businesses with access to funds against their receivables and thereby support working capital requirements and further expansion.
Digital Rupee and targeted welfare delivery
The potential of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), or Digital Rupee (e₹), also figured prominently in the Chief Secretary’s address.
Dulloo noted that the programmability feature of the Digital Rupee could create possibilities for targeted delivery of state subsidies and welfare assistance.
The discussion reflected the wider transformation underway in the financial sector, where digital technologies are increasingly being explored not merely for payments but also for improving the delivery, traceability and targeting of financial assistance.
At the same time, the conference placed considerable emphasis on ensuring that technological advancement is accompanied by adequate safeguards against cybercrime and financial fraud.
RBI Deputy Governor stresses developmental role
RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain, in his special address, highlighted the broad role of the central bank in India’s financial and economic system.
He said that while monetary policy, regulation and supervision remain among the core functions of the RBI, the central bank also has an important developmental mandate covering areas such as payment and settlement systems, financial inclusion and financial market development.
Jain highlighted the potential of the Unified Lending Interface to facilitate seamless and frictionless access to credit across diverse sectors of the economy.
He said technology can substantially improve efficiency and access in financial services, but the same technological expansion also creates new vulnerabilities and risks, particularly in the form of cyber fraud.
The Deputy Governor underlined the need for continued coordination between the RBI and government authorities to address such challenges and strengthen the overall resilience of the financial ecosystem.
Technology against financial fraud
The conference also highlighted a range of technology-driven measures being pursued to strengthen fraud detection and protect customers.
Among the initiatives discussed was MuleHunter.ai, aimed at strengthening the detection of mule accounts and related fraudulent activity. Mule accounts can be exploited by criminals to receive, transfer or move proceeds of financial fraud, making their identification an important component of financial crime prevention.
Other initiatives highlighted included card tokenisation, the introduction of the ‘bank.in’ domain, unified calling numbers and the compensation framework applicable to unauthorised electronic banking transactions.
The RBI Deputy Governor stressed that technological and regulatory measures would need to be accompanied by sustained public awareness so that customers understand the risks associated with digital financial transactions and are better equipped to protect themselves.
He also expressed appreciation to the Jammu and Kashmir administration for its active participation in the conference.
Wide-ranging thematic sessions
The conference featured a series of thematic sessions covering some of the most significant developments and challenges confronting the financial sector.
One of the key sessions focused on Unified Lending Interface: Present Status and Challenges, including the rollout of ULI in Jammu and Kashmir. The session examined the potential of the platform to simplify and accelerate credit delivery while also addressing issues that could affect its implementation.
Another session focused on the Digital Rupee (e₹) and Central Bank Digital Currency, providing an overview of the evolving digital currency ecosystem and its potential applications.
Participants were also briefed on Mule Hunters.AI and its implementation, with discussions centred on the use of technology to identify suspicious financial activity and strengthen fraud prevention mechanisms.
The conference also examined the supervisory approach to Digital Lending Apps, an area that has gained importance with the rapid expansion of app-based lending and digital financial services.
Strengthening digital banking safeguards
Another thematic session addressed card tokenisation, the ‘bank.in’ domain and unified calling numbers, initiatives aimed at strengthening security, improving customer confidence and making legitimate banking communications easier to identify.
The participants also discussed the compensation framework for small-value fraudulent Electronic Banking Transactions (EBTs), focusing on mechanisms intended to provide customer protection in cases involving unauthorised electronic transactions.
The issue of cybercrime received dedicated attention during a session on the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), State Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (S4C) and the modus operandi of cybercrime in Jammu and Kashmir.
The session provided a platform for stakeholders to discuss the evolving methods used in cyber-enabled financial crimes and the importance of coordination between financial institutions, law-enforcement agencies and other authorities in preventing and responding to such incidents.
UPI fraud prevention in focus
With UPI becoming an integral part of everyday financial transactions, the conference also devoted a session to fraud prevention measures for UPI payments.
The discussions underlined the importance of strengthening safeguards around digital payments while simultaneously improving customer awareness about fraudulent links, impersonation, deceptive payment requests and other methods used to compromise digital transactions.
The emphasis on public awareness was particularly significant as technological safeguards alone cannot eliminate every avenue for fraud. Customer behaviour, timely reporting of suspicious transactions and cooperation with banks and law-enforcement agencies remain important elements of the broader fraud-prevention framework.
TReDS and MSME liquidity
The conference also discussed the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS), with particular focus on challenges associated with its implementation in Jammu and Kashmir.
For MSMEs, delayed payments can create significant working-capital pressures even when businesses have secured legitimate orders and supplied goods or services. The discussions around TReDS therefore assumed significance in the context of the administration’s emphasis on expanding the MSME ecosystem and promoting entrepreneurship in the UT.
The conference provided an opportunity for government officials, banks and financial-sector institutions to examine ways in which financial infrastructure could better support businesses operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
A platform for coordinated action
The participation of senior officials from the government, banking industry, RBI, police, financial technology institutions and other stakeholders gave the conference a broad institutional character.
The discussions brought together two closely connected priorities for Jammu and Kashmir: expanding access to finance for productive economic activity and protecting citizens and businesses from emerging digital financial risks.
The Chief Secretary urged stakeholders to draw actionable road maps from the deliberations and work collectively towards the progress of Jammu and Kashmir.
The conference thus sought to move beyond discussions on individual financial initiatives and encourage greater coordination among institutions responsible for credit delivery, financial inclusion, digital payments, economic development and cybercrime prevention.
With Jammu and Kashmir seeking to strengthen sectors such as agriculture, tourism, handicrafts, MSMEs and allied activities, the availability of accessible institutional credit is increasingly linked to the ability of businesses and individuals to expand their economic activities. At the same time, the rapid adoption of digital financial services has made cyber security and customer awareness an equally important component of financial-sector development.
The deliberations in Srinagar brought these two dimensions together, highlighting the need for Jammu and Kashmir’s financial ecosystem to become simultaneously more accessible, technology-enabled and secure.
