India Strengthens Financial Cybersecurity and Expands 5G Network Coverage

India is developing a national cybersecurity strategy for its financial sector, featuring over 50 recommendations to mitigate AI-related risks and enhance digital infrastructure. An inter-ministerial group is currently working to establish common incident reporting standards and improve third-party risk management. This initiative is particularly urgent as cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting the tax filing season with dual-malware campaigns.

To bolster its defensive capabilities, India has entered a cybersecurity partnership with Indonesia. This collaboration focuses on policy dialogue, capacity building, and sharing best practices in digital public infrastructure, AI, and digital forensics. These measures are essential as the country prepares for the first fully digital Census 2027, which will require end-to-end encryption and Aadhaar-based verification to protect sensitive data collected by 30 lakh enumerators.

On the infrastructure front, India has achieved 99.9% district coverage for 5G services, reaching 85% of the population with over 500,000 base transceiver stations. As the world's second-largest 5G subscriber market with 120 million active users, the focus is now shifting toward reducing latency and enhancing cloud connectivity. While 5G data traffic is expected to surpass 4G by early 2026, legacy networks remain vital for maintaining nationwide connectivity during the transition to next-generation AI-powered services.