As digital payments go up post-demonetisation, the country needs separate digital payment laws and digital payment courts should be established across India along with an appropriate legal framework, the CMAI Association of India (CMAI) said on Wednesday.

“All cases of money lost in digital payments may not fall in the category of cyber thefts or breaches. With proliferation of digital payments across India in big and small towns, there may be widespread cases of small amounts here and there throughout the country. There is also need for legal framework for data storage and data protection,” said NK Goyal, President CMAI, during an event here.

The telecom industry body also urged the government to promote domestic manufacturing of Point of Sale (PoS) machines and its software development under the “Make in India” initiative.

Digital payments have gone up 300 per cent since demonetisation, creating a need to add 20 lakh more PoS machines to the existing 15 lakh machines.

“When millions of people are joining digital payments movement daily, safety of data remains paramount which can be ensured only by pushing indigenous manufacturing of PoS machines. We cannot depend on foreign manufacturers if we want to make our economy cashless and all digital economy should also add to Make in India,” Goyal explained.

“Majority of PoS machines are currently imported primarily from the US, Europe and China and, therefore, data security remains a big challenge,” Goyal added.

CMAI also suggested mandatory cyber audit by Reserve Bank of India or Cyber Command Group at regular intervals.

The telecom industry body called for an appropriate and robust mechanism to report losses and recovery of money lost, theft or frauds in digital payments and requested for an institutionalised policy for redressal of complaints of citizens with regard to digital payments.

According to the CMAI, an immediate action plan for the projected five lakh cyber experts was needed as per the cyber policy.