Frauds in PSBs dip 51% t Rs 40,295 cr, cases not falling fast enough: RBI

Public sector banks reported over 51 per cent dip in the amount involved in frauds to Rs 40,295.25 crore during the financial year ended March 2022, the Reserve Bank of India has said.

The 12 PSBs (Public Sector Banks) had reported frauds worth Rs 81,921.54 crore in preceding fiscal 2020-21, the Reserve Bank has said in response to an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

However, the number of fraud cases didn't fall at the same pace as a total of 7,940 frauds reported by the PSBs in 2021-22, against 9,933 incidents reported in FY21, said the RBI's reply to Madhya Pradesh-based RTI activist Chandrashekhar Gaur.

According to the RBI data on frauds reported by PSBs in all categories during FY22, the highest amount of Rs 9,528.95 crore was reported by the city-based Punjab National Bank (PNB), involving 431 such incidents.

The country's largest lender State Bank of India reported frauds worth Rs 6,932.37 crore in as many as 4,192 cases -- reflecting incidents of a large number of small value frauds.

Bank of India reported frauds worth Rs 5,923.99 crore (209 incidents), followed by Bank of Baroda at Rs 3,989.36 crore (280); Union Bank of India Rs 3,939 crore (627), while Canara Bank reported frauds worth Rs 3,230.18 crore in just 90 cases -- showing that the transactions were of high value frauds.

Among others, Indian Bank customers faced frauds amounting to Rs 2,038.28 crore in 211 cases; Indian Overseas Bank Rs 1,733.80 crore (312); Bank of Maharashtra Rs 1,139.36 crore (72 cases); Central Bank of India Rs 773.37 crore; UCO Bank Rs 611.54 crore (114 crore) and Punjab & Sind Bank reported frauds of Rs 455.04 crore in as many as 159 incidents.

RBI said that the data may change subject to rectification/update made subsequent to first reporting of banks (in respect of individual frauds). As per the RBI reply, the amount of frauds worth less than Rs 1 lakh has been recorded from April 1, 2017.