Mumbai, Mar 17: The Reserve Bank of India has been selected for the prestigious 'Initiative of the Year Award' by London-based Central Banking in recognition for its launching the '.bank.in' domain, making India the first country globally to mandate a secure and exclusive Internet domain for the banking system.

The award recognises the initiative as a global benchmark in financial cybersecurity and digital infrastructure management.

The transition enhances consumer confidence, helps reduce digital payment fraud, and strengthens financial stability. This has been implemented through the involvement of multiple stakeholders, including the Indian government, the NIXI, the IDRBT, and banks, according to an official statement.

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By mandating a domain name for the country’s banks, the RBI has struck a major blow against cyber fraud. Only RBI-regulated entities are permitted to use the .bank.in domain, which helps to strengthen cybersecurity and protect customers from phishing and look-alike website frauds. Banks were instructed to migrate to the new domain to boost trust in digital banking.

"Digitisation has transformed all aspects of financial infrastructure – from the ways in which individuals and businesses make and receive payments, to the ways in which investment capital is allocated, and the performances of individual securities are monitored in real time. But it has come with a cost: a large increase in cybercrime," Central Banking said.

"In emerging economies such as India’s, where digitisation is seen as a key tool for financial inclusion, the threats posed by cyber crime are particularly acute,” the statement added.

The Reserve Bank of India has announced the exclusive .bank.in domain for all licensed banks in India to enhance cybersecurity and reduce phishing scams. Banks were mandated to migrate their net banking websites to this secure domain by October 31, 2025.

Major banks, including SBI, HDFC, and ICICI, have migrated their websites to the new domain, often resulting in URLs like www.bankname.bank.in.

Separate, specialised domains are being utilised for other non-bank financial entities to differentiate from banking institutions.

(IANS)