SBI suffers highest number of bank frauds in the last 5 yrs

Pune (Maharashtra, India): The State Bank Of India (SBI) has been hit by the highest number of frauds in the last five years, the Parliament was informed on Monday.

The bank suffered around 3,720 frauds, involving Rs 1 lakh and above, up to December 2021, followed by ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank with 3,314 and 2,927 frauds respectively.

As per data, SBI reported 751 frauds in FY 2016-17; 923 frauds in FY 2017-18; 931 frauds in FY 2018-19. Here on, the number of frauds started declining.

As many as 673 frauds were reported in FY 2019-20 and 283 frauds in FY 2020-21.  During April-December 2021-22, the number of frauds in SBI reached 159, as mentioned in the RBI data shared by Minister of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat Karad.

Karad released this information in response to a question asked by house member Kunwar Danish Ali on the details of the number of cases of bank frauds during the last five years.

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In a written reply, Karad informed that bank frauds stood at Rs 61,229 crore in 2016-17, but declined to Rs 11,583 crore in 2020-21, and then to Rs 648 crore during April-December 2021-22.

The RBI issued Master Directions on Frauds in 2016, and the Government has instituted wide-ranging structural and procedural reforms to check frauds in banks. Such systematic and comprehensive checking for frauds, including the legacy stock of non-performing assets (NPAs), has led to the unearthing of frauds perpetrated over the years. 

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‘‘While such systematic and comprehensive checking has increased the annually reported amount involved in frauds, as reported to RBI by scheduled commercial banks (SCBs), the improved detection and reporting accompanied with the comprehensive steps taken to check frauds have resulted in the sharp decline in the occurrence of such frauds,” Karad said.

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Comprehensive steps have also been taken to keep a check on frauds in banks, including, steps to address security flaws and ensure investigation of such frauds, he added.