I4C graduates from scheme to ‘attached office’ of MHA
Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) is now an attached office of the Ministry of Home Affairs, providing operational freedom and resources to address cybercrime challenges.
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has been converted into an “attached office” of the Ministry of Home Affairs since July 1, according to an office order dated June 5. This means that it is now a separate entity directly under MHA instead of a scheme or a project. As a result, no budget has been allocated to it under the expenditure budget of police for FY25 even though it was allocated ₹150.95 crore under “Central Sector Scheme/Projects” in the interim budget in February. The allocation for FY25 remains the same but will now be slotted under the main MHA expenditure budget, a person aware of the matter said.
“With the approval of the competent authority, it has been decided to establish Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) as an Attached Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs with effect from 01.07.2024,” the June 5 order, signed by Chandra Dutt Sharma, undersecretary in MHA, said.
I4C was established as a scheme under MHA’s Cyber and Information Security (C&IS) division in October 2018 at an estimated cost of ₹415.86 crore to help in coordination between different law enforcement agencies and stakeholders (banks, payments companies, etc.) to tackle cybercrime. The centre itself inaugurated by home minister Amit Shah in January 2020 with an outlay of ₹340 crore. I4C set up the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal in August 2019.
I4C has been converted into an ‘attached office’ because government projects and schemes are time-bound, and approvals are needed for their continuation, one current and one former MHA official told HT on the condition of anonymity. “When funds are exhausted for a scheme, the scheme cannot continue. Extensions are continuously required. Now I4C is a permanent institution,” the former MHA official explained.
“As a scheme, everything was routed through the C&IS division at MHA so there were many delays. For instance, to hire people, posts first had to be sanctioned by the division, then hiring was done and that would take a lot of time,” the current MHA official said.
The person aware of the matter cited in the first instance said that as an attached office, the C&IS division will continue to be the administrative division for I4C, and this conversion gives it “necessary operational freedom and resources to address the challenges posed by cybercrime”. As an attached office, the I4C will be able to function independently and “pave the way for giving an institutional national framework to address cybercrime”, this person said.
Conversations to convert I4C into a full-fledged office had been going on for at least two years, the current and former MHA officials cited above said, but getting approvals took time.
“I4C will function as an attached office with regular budget under Grant 51 of MHA. Budget shall be allocated in the manner it is being allocated to the existing attached offices/subordinate offices of MHA,” the person aware of the matter said.