RBI plans kill switch to instantly halt bank account payments
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning a "kill switch" for your bank account, letting you instantly shut down all digital payments if you spot suspicious activity.
This move comes after a huge spike in fraud last year, 2.8 million cases with losses of nearly ₹23,000 crore.
The idea is to give people an easy way to lock things down before any real damage happens.
Kill switch covers all digital payments
Unlike now, where card payments have some controls, this kill switch would cover all digital payment transactions from your account.
To turn things back on, you'd need strong digital authentication or visit your bank in person, so only you can reactivate it.
RBI's proposal takes cues from Singapore's system and may even keep digital payments off by default for new users, just to be extra safe.
Certain payments may be exempted, so life won't come to a halt if you use the kill switch.