Banks assure Finance Minister of cybersecurity preparedness in light of tensions with Pakistan

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviews India's financial institutions' cybersecurity preparedness amidst border tensions, ensuring quick responses to cyberattacks.

Amidst the unfolding security concerns arising from tensions at the border with Pakistan, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday (May 9, 2025) chaired a meeting to review the cybersecurity preparedness of India’s financial institutions.

During the meeting, she instructed all banks to coordinate with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and CERT-In to ensure quick responses in the event of a cyberattack.

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Ms. Sitharaman also instructed banks to designate two dedicated senior officials at the headquarters — one for reporting all cyber-related incidents, and the other to ensure operational matters, including the functioning of bank branches and the availability of cash in ATMs. 

Both officers are to report any incident to CERT-In or the relevant agencies and the Department of Financial Services (DFS) “on a real-time basis”.

The meeting was attended by the managing directors and CEOs of public and private sector banks and insurance companies, apart from senior officials from DFS, CERT-In, RBI, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and National Payments Corporation of India.

According to an official release, the bank officials informed Ms. Sitharaman that anti-DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) systems have been implemented by banks to protect against massive cyber-attacks. Mock drills have also been held encompassing cybersecurity and disaster recovery scenarios “at the highest levels”.