RBI's bank domain name switch does little to tackle online fraud

Moving banks to '.bank.in' websites will not really address the dangers that lurk in digital spaces

- SRINATH SRIDHARAN & ANAND VENKATANARAYANAN are, respectively, corporate advisor & independent director on boards; and co-founder and chief technology officer, DeepStrat.

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) recent suggestion to move all Indian bank websites to the '.bank.in' domain has garnered attention, yet it represents a classic case of regulatory over-enthusiasm for a non-priority issue. While well-intentioned, it offers a superficial solution to a deep problem.

As digital banking evolves in India, the primary threat to consumer security lies not in the domain names of websites, but in the proliferation of fraudulent apps and inadequacy of protections. A change in domain name, in isolation, will do little to combat the growing menace of digital fraud.

As apps have become the primary point of interaction with banks for most consumers, the relevance of website domain names has diminished. Gen Z and Gen X, for example, may not even recognize the concept of 'www,' having grown up in an apps-first world. For consumers of all ages, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has shifted the focus to mobile apps. The real danger now lies in fraudulent apps that bypass traditional web-based checks, with fake apps on both the Google Play Store and Apple Store continuing to pose a significant problem.