Banking frauds of over Rs 100 crore decline significantly in FY22: Official data

Frauds in the banking sector involving sums of over Rs 100 crore have declined significantly, with banks reporting cases worth Rs 41,000 crore in 2021-22 compared to Rs 1.05 lakh crore in the previous year. According to official data, the number of fraud cases in private as well as public sector banks dropped to 118 in FY22 from 265 in 2020-21.

In the case of public sector banks (PSBs), the total number of fraud cases of over Rs 100 crore declined to 80 from 167 in FY'21, while for private sector lenders such cases reduced to 38 in FY'22 from 98 earlier, as per the data. In terms of cumulative amount, it has come down to Rs 28,000 crore from Rs 65,900 crore in FY'21 for PSBs. For private sector banks, the reduction is from Rs 39,900 crore to Rs 13,000 crore in FY'22.

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.