Banking frauds down 60% in FY22

New Delhi: Frauds in the banking sector involving sums of over Rs100 crore have declined significantly, with banks reporting cases worth Rs41,000 crore in 2021-22 compared to Rs1.05 lakh crore in the previous year.

According to official data, the number of fraud cases in private as well as public-sector banks (PSBs) dropped to 118 in FY22 from 265 in 2020-21. In the case of PSBs, the total number of fraud cases of over Rs100 crore declined to 80 from 167 in FY21, while for private-sector lenders such cases reduced to 38 in FY22 from 98 earlier, as per the data. In terms of cumulative amount, it has come down to Rs28,000 crore from Rs65,900 crore in FY21 for PSBs. For private sector banks, the reduction is from Rs39,900 crore to Rs13,000 crore in FY22.

In a bid to check frauds, the RBI has been taking several steps including improving efficacy of Early Warning System (EWS) framework, strengthening fraud governance and response system, augmenting data analysis for monitoring of transactions and introduction of dedicated Market Intelligence (MI) Unit for frauds.

During 2021-22, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) carried out a study on the implementation of EWS framework in select Scheduled Commercial Banks, in collaboration with the Reserve Bank Information Technology Private Limited (ReBIT).