India’s digital transaction boom—from UPI-powered mobile payments to e-commerce loyalty programs—has thrust cybersecurity into the spotlight as a catalyst for innovation and trust. In 2025, enterprises face a pivotal choice: treat threats as barriers or transform them into a competitive edge for 2026 growth across fintech, retail, travel, and real estate.
Sarika Shetty, Co-founder and CEO of RentenPe, flags frontline risks in this surge “Indian enterprises offering mobile and web payment applications face escalating cybersecurity threats. Key vulnerabilities include insecure APIs, weak authentication, code tampering, app cloning, and malware targeting mobile users. Web apps grapple with bot attacks, credential stuffing, and session hijacking. Attackers now deploy AI-driven phishing that mimics legitimate payment interfaces to steal credentials or redirect funds.”
Saket Newaskar, Head of AI Transformation at Expleo, underscores the evolving complexity “Indian enterprises faced multiple challenges in 2025, which clearly show what should be addressed in 2026. In 2025, we saw the evolution of ransomware from simply encrypting files to creating multi-pronged extortion campaigns in which hackers would attempt to extort their victims through the combination of file encryption, data theft, and public disclosure related to that data, thus making any attempt to recover from attacks much more complicated than in the past. Additionally, the increasing use of artificial intelligence by hackers to create more sophisticated types of phishing attacks and other cybersecurity threats has enabled cybercriminals to circumvent traditional rule-based security controls in place today. The rise in the adoption of cloud-based and API-centric digital ecosystems has further widened the attack surface, with the increase in shadow and undigitised APIs becoming a prominent threat point. Human element risks continue to highlight vulnerabilities in cybersecurity despite robust investment.”
These AI-fueled threats demand an “AI-first, rules-second” pivot in fraud detection. Traditional rule-based systems—static and reactive—struggle with fraudsters’ unpredictable patterns, causing rule sprawl, false positives, alert fatigue, and poor customer experiences from unnecessary declines. AI/ML counters this by analyzing massive real-time data to spot subtle anomalies, adapt to evolving tactics, and score hundreds of risk factors in milliseconds. This predictive approach scales effortlessly with surging transaction volumes in payment gateways, boosting accuracy, cutting false declines, and enabling instant approvals, while rules handle only high-confidence guardrails like sanctioned lists.
Enterprises can neutralize risks with robust encryption, multi-factor authentication (MFA), secure coding, runtime app protection, and this AI-powered real-time fraud monitoring. Shetty emphasizes RBI and PCI-DSS compliance not just for protection, but to deliver seamless experiences that build customer loyalty; turning security into a trust multiplier.
Pankaj Tripathi, Founder & CEO of Vernost Tech Ventures, reframes cybersecurity as a C-suite imperative: “By 2025, threats have outpaced most organizations’ defenses. Heading into 2026, Indian businesses must recognize it as a strategic priority impacting customer trust, resilience, and loyalty—not a mere IT task.”
Tripathi highlights “AI-powered threats like deepfakes and advanced social engineering, advocating zero-trust architectures, real-time monitoring, layered authentication, and ongoing employee training. In sectors like payments and loyalty programs, transparency seals the deal. Years of built loyalty can vanish in one breach. Prioritize openness, responsible data governance, and regular updates to assure customers their data is safe.”
By 2026, leaders adopting AI-first fraud stacks alongside zero-trust, anomaly detection, upskilling, and candid communication will dominate. Institutions shifting from rule-centric to AI-centric report higher detection rates, fewer reviews, and agility against new sectors proving cybersecurity fuels confidence, agility, and market leadership in India’s digital economy.
