The Reserve Bank of India recorded a more than 51% decrease in the amount engaged in frauds to Rs 40,295.25 crore for the fiscal year ending March 2022. The Reserve Bank stated in response to a Right to Information (RTI) Act request that the 12 PSBs (Public Sector Banks) recorded frauds of Rs 81,921.54 crore in the preceding fiscal 2020-21. However, the number of fraud cases did not decrease at the same rate, with 7,940 frauds recorded by PSBs in 2021-22, compared to 9,933 incidences reported in FY21, according to the RBI’s response to Madhya Pradesh-based RTI activist Chandrashekhar Gaur.
According to RBI statistics on frauds reported by PSBs in all categories during FY22, the city-based Punjab National Bank (PNB) recorded the largest amount of Rs 9,528.95 crore, encompassing 431 such occurrences.
State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, recorded thefts of Rs 6,932.37 crore in as many as 4,192 instances, indicating a high frequency of small-value frauds.
Bank of India reported frauds of Rs 5,923.99 crore (209 incidents), followed by Bank of Baroda at Rs 3,989.36 crore (280), Union Bank of India at Rs 3,939 crore (627), and Canara Bank at Rs 3,230.18 crore (90 occurrences), indicating that the transactions were high-value frauds.
Customers of Indian Bank faced fraud totalling Rs 2,038.28 crore in 211 cases; Indian Overseas Bank Rs 1,733.80 crore (312 cases); Bank of Maharashtra Rs 1,139.36 crore (72 cases); Central Bank of India Rs 773.37 crore; UCO Bank Rs 611.54 crore (114 crores); and Punjab & Sind Bank reported fraud totalling Rs 455.04 crore in 159 incidents.