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Amid rising cases of digital frauds, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed compensating up to ₹25,000 to customers who lose money to small-value fraudulent transactions, governor Sanjay Malhotra said.

“We will also publish a discussion paper on possible measures to enhance the safety of digital payments. Such measures may include lagged credits and additional authentication for specific classes of users like senior citizens,” the governor said after the meeting of the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

In a bid to protect customers from cyber frauds, the RBI also plans to review the framework to limit customer liability in digital transactions.

“The extant instructions on limiting the liability of customers in unauthorised electronic banking transactions were issued in 2017, which deal with scenarios and timelines for zero / limited liability of a customer. In view of the rapid adoption of technology in the banking sector and payments systems, since issuance of these instructions, the existing instructions have been reviewed. Accordingly, the draft revised instructions, including a framework for compensation in case of small-value fraudulent transactions, shall be issued shortly for public consultation,” the RBI said in its statement on developmental and regulatory policies.

This comes at a time when the cases of digital frauds and cyber arrests are on the rise in the country, with fraudsters especially targeting senior citizens. Indians lost ₹107.21 Cr to cyber frauds in the first nine months of FY25.

The government, via the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), has identified and blocked thousands of Skype IDs and WhatsApp accounts used for digital arrests.

Meanwhile, the central bank said it is also mulling introducing draft guidelines related to mis-selling and recovery of loans and engagement of recovery agents to increase customer protection.

As part of its efforts to enhance liquidity for MSMEs, the RBI said it will extend the collateral-free loans limit for MSMEs to ₹20 Lakh from ₹10 Lakh earlier. The new provisions will be applicable to all loans for MSME borrowers sanctioned or renewed on or after April 1 this year.

The MPC today decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 5.25%. On inflation, the governor said that headline inflation remained below the central’s bank during November-December.

The RBI now expects CPI inflation to be 4.0% in Q1 FY27 and 4.2% in Q2 FY27 on the back of increase in prices of precious metals.

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