Parliamentary panel on finance debates cyber security, rising white collar crimes

NEW DELHI — The issue of “cyber security and rising incidence of cyber/white collar crimes” was at the centre of deliberations at a meeting of a key parliamentary panel as experts from the industry were quizzed by lawmakers about various facets of unlawful activities, including fraud loan apps.

Sources said the members of the Standing Committee on Finance sought the views of experts about various trends in cyber crime and what measures can be taken to mitigate the risks.

The issue of fraud lending apps, which have been hitting headlines with rising complaints of people being swindled or forced to pay exorbitant interest rates, also came up for discussion at the meeting.

Senior officials of different fintech firms and public policy and advocacy groups were among the industry stakeholders who deposed before the committee.

The firms represented at the meeting included Chase India, Razorpay, PhonePe, CRED and QNu Labs as well as Nasscom, a premier trade body and chamber of commerce of the tech industry in India.

Cyber crimes have become an increasing threat with savvy online operators resorting to various tricks to defraud people of their money.

The parliamentary committee is headed by Lok Sabha MP Jayant Sinha and includes P Chidambaram, Sougata Roy, Sushil Modi and Amar Patnaik among others.