The number of cases of frauds reported by banks increased 15% in 2018-19 on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, with the amount involved rising by 73.8%, though mostly related to occurrences in earlier years. The average lag between the date of occurrence and its detection by banks was 22 months. The average lag for large frauds – Rs 100 crore and above – worth a total of Rs 52,200 crore reported during 2018-19 was 55 months.
Among bank groups, public sector banks (PSBs) accounted for the bulk of frauds reported during the year, followed by private sector banks and foreign banks. In terms of area of operations, frauds related to loans constituted a majority of the total amount involved in frauds, while the share of frauds in off-balance sheet items declined from a year ago.
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“In terms of the number of frauds too, those related to advances were predominant, followed by card/internet-related frauds and deposits-related frauds. Frauds relating to card/internet and deposits constituted only 0.3% of the total value of frauds in 2018-19,” the RBI said.
Cheating and forgery was the major component, followed by misappropriation and criminal breach of trust. Fraud cases involving an amount of less than Rs 1 lakh were only 0.1% of the total amount involved in FY19, the report said.
