- India,
- 23-Apr-2025 06:00 AM IST
Reserve Bank Of India: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken an important step towards making digital banking more secure. In a directive issued on Tuesday, RBI has asked all banks to transfer their existing internet domains to the new .bank.in domain. The last date for this has been fixed as October 31, 2025. This step has been taken with the intention of curbing cyber incidents like online fraud and phishing.Why is domain change necessary?With the increasing trend of digital transactions, cyber crimes have also increased significantly. Hackers and fraudsters confuse customers through fake websites and steal their sensitive information. In such a situation, the .bank.in domain will be allotted only to authorized banks, making it difficult to create fake websites. The uniqueness of this domain will help customers ensure that they are using the real banking portal.Technical support and monitoringIDRBT (Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology) has been nominated to implement this initiative. This institute will provide technical support to the banks in adopting the new domain system and will guide the application process. Banks will have to start the registration process by contacting the email ID sahyog@idrbt.ac.in.The responsibility of monitoring domain registration has been entrusted to the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), which is working under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. NIXI will work as the authorized registrar for the .bank.in domain.What will be the impact on customers?This change will also change the banking experience of customers. Now they will find the website of their banks on the new domain address, for example, if earlier the website was www.bankname.com, then now it can be changed to www.bankname.bank.in. However, this change will ensure better security for the customers and will help them to be cautious of fake websites.