‘India moved from consumer to creator’: PM Modi urges GSMA, telecom firms to build mechanism against cross-border fraud

New Delhi: Global telecom operators, governments, technology companies and financial institutions must jointly tackle the growing deluge of cross-border cybercrime and build global mechanisms to intercept digital fraud, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday.

The expansion of digital services must be backed by stronger phone and network security such that trust is central to their adoption, Modi said at the 10th India Mobile Congress. "I urge the GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association) and global telecom operators to establish a mechanism that can stop such frauds," he said.

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Cybercriminals could operate from one country, enlist help in another and target victims in a third, and hence, the threat required a coordinated global framework. India was ready to share lessons from its experience, he added. "Technology achieves scale only when it earns trust," he said. For ordinary users, that meant distinguishing genuine messages from fake ones, making payments safely and trusting that information submitted online would remain protected.

The appeal came as Modi outlined India's next telecom ambitions. "In recent years, India has journeyed from being a consumer to becoming a creator," he said. "Now India is moving towards the goal where product design, technology, and IP will all belong to India."