Total frauds at banks rise to Rs. 71,543 crore in 2018-19 : RBI

The rise in bank frauds is a matter of shame for the Finance Ministry and Reserve Bank of India. What role did the banks play when such a large number of scams were taking place ? Is there any field in India which can be said to be free of scams ?

It would not be surprising if people decide now to keep their money at home.

Mumbai – Banks reported a total fraud of Rs. 71,543 crore in 2018-19, a 74% increase as against Rs. 41,167 crore in the previous financial year, according to a report ‘Trends and Progress of Banking 2018-19’ by the Reserve Bank of India. The number of fraud cases reported by lenders also jumped to 6,801 in 2018-19, compared to 5,916 cases in 2017-18.

In February 2018, the Government had issued a framework for timely detection, reporting and investigation of frauds in Public Sector Banks (PSBs). It required these lenders to evaluate non-performing accounts exceeding Rs. 50 crore from the angle of possible frauds, to supplement the earlier efforts to unearth fraudulent transactions.

This appears to have caused the sharp jump in reported frauds in 2018-19, the report said. PSBs’ share in the value of large frauds was higher at 91.6 per cent in 2018-19. In the bank advances category, there were 3,606 fraud cases involving Rs. 64,548 crore reported in 2018-19.