India cybercrime complaints surge while FIR registrations remain low

A report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has highlighted a significant gap between cybercrime complaints and formal police registrations in India. Between 2019 and November 2024, approximately 53.93 lakh complaints were recorded on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, yet First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered in only about 1.30 lakh cases, representing roughly 2.4% of total complaints.

The volume of reported cybercrime has seen a massive increase, rising from 26,049 complaints in 2019 to over 20 lakh in 2024. These complaints involve estimated financial losses of nearly Rs 31,594 crore, with approximately 85% of cases linked to cyber financial fraud.

The parliamentary panel expressed concerns regarding under-reporting, delayed data submission, and flaws in the National Crime Records Bureau’s crime-recording system. Specific issues include the “principal offence rule,” where only the most serious offence in a case is counted in statistics, and instances where police may record only a general diary entry instead of a formal FIR, potentially leaving serious offences unrecorded.