Banks lost Rs.41,167 cr to fraud in 2017-18 RBI report
Fraudsters have laundered Rs 41,167.7 crore from the banking system in 2017-18, a significant jump of 72 per cent from Rs 23,933 crore the previous year, despite “stringent monitoring and vigilance”, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
There were 5,917 instances of bank fraud in 2017-18 as against 5,076 cases the previous year, show the data released Friday. The instances of fraud have been rising over the last four years — by four times from Rs 10,170 crore in 2013-14.
In 2017-18, however, frauds related to off-balance sheet operations, foreign exchange transactions, deposit accounts and cyber-activity took centre stage. Banks reported more cyber frauds during the year, losing Rs 109.6 crore in 2,059 cases in 2017-18 as against Rs 42.3 crore with 1,372 cases the previous year.
Large-value frauds involving Rs 50 crore and above constituted about 80 per cent of all the frauds reported this year. Significantly, 93 per cent of fraud cases worth more than Rs 1 lakh occurred in PSU banks while private banks accounted for six per cent.
The increasing number of frauds has contributed to the ballooning bad loans, which were at Rs 10,39,700 crore as of March 2018.
The jump in 2017-18 was primarily due to the over Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) case, involving fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. “In terms of amount, frauds in the banking sector increased sharply in 2017-18, mainly reflecting a large value case in the jewellery sector,” the RBI said.
