Britain and India to agree cyber crime joint taskforce

A Master of Business Administration (MBA) student works on a computer in a library at Management Development Institute (MDI) in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi May 2, 2012.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Britain and India are expected to agree to set up a joint task force to fight cyber crime on Tuesday, a move London hopes will help it safeguard the personal banking and mobile phone data of millions of Britons, much of which is stored on Indian servers.

The agreement is expected to be sealed at a meeting between British Prime Minister David Cameron and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi, one of the highlights of Cameron's three-day trade and investment trip to India.

"The two leaders are expected to agree a substantial strengthening of practical co-operation between British and Indian authorities to increase the security of British and Indian computer networks and to help defend them against cyber attacks by terrorists, criminals and hostile states," Cameron's office said in a statement.

It said India was set to have one of the biggest online populations by 2015 with an expected 300 million users - larger than the United States and up from the 137 million users already in India today.

Cameron told reporters: "I think why we're forging these partnerships with other countries - including trusted partners like India - is twofold.

"One is, other countries securing their data is effectively helping us secure our data. Secondly, I think this is an area where Britain has some real competitive and technology advantages." (Reporting By Andrew Osborn; Editing by Robert Birsel)