New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS): Home Minister Rajnath Singh Wednesday approved the setting up of an expert group to prepare a roadmap for effectively tackling cyber crimes in the country.

"A five member group consisting academicians and professionals has been set up to prepare a road map to tackle cyber crime in country. It will give suitable recommendations on all its facets," a government release said.

It said that director general of Centre For Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) Pune Rajat Moona, professor of Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru Krishnan, director general of Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) Gulshan Rai, professor of Computer Science at IIT Kanpur Manindra Aggarwal and IIIT Bengaluru professor D. Dass are among the five expert team members.

The government release said Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) joint secretary Kumar Alok has been chosen as the convenor of the team.

"The cyber expert group will recommend possible partnerships with public and private sector, non government organisations (NGOs), international bodies and international NGOs. The group may take special measures to tackle cyber crimes," the release said.

Rajnath Singh said with a fast growing economy, India is susceptible to international and domestic cyber attacks and there is a need to ensure cyber crime free environment.

"There has been almost 40 percent annual increase in cyber crimes registered in the country during the past three years," said the release.