Nirav Modi effect? Bank frauds more than double to Rs 412 bn in 2017-18

RBI's latest report suggests that if the Nirav Modi scam were left out, the quantum of frauds would have risen by just Rs 38 bn in 2017-18 YoY, even lower than the Rs 52 bn increase in 2016-17

Even as the number of bank accounts has grown exponentially owing to the Modi government’s Jan Dhan scheme, there has been a commensurate rise in the number of banking frauds and the amount involved in these frauds.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest report on ‘Trends and Banking in India 2017-18’ notes that Rs 412 billion worth of frauds were committed across Indian banks in 2017-18 – a 112 per cent increase over 2014-15 when the Modi government came to power. However the RBI’s report has a caveat to justify this phenomenal jump. Without naming anyone, the report states,