The Reserve Bank of India has said that more than 23,000 cases of fraud, involving about Rs 1 lakh crore, were reported by banks over the last five years, PTI reported.
Between April 1, 2017, and March 1, 2018, a total of 5,152 cases of fraud, involving Rs 28,459 crore, were reported, the Reserve Bank said in response to a Right to Information query PTI said it had filed. In the 2016-2017 financial year, banks had reported 5,076 cases of fraud involving Rs 23,933 crore, while there were 4,693 cases involving Rs 18,698 crore in 2015-2016.
In the 2014-2015 financial year, 4,639 cases, involving Rs 19,455 crore, were reported in banks, and 4,306 cases involving Rs 10,170 crore in 2013-2014, the central bank said.
Overall, during this five-year period, 23,866 cases of fraud, involving Rs 1,00,718 lakh crore were reported. “The reported fraud cases are processed and action is taken according to the facts and circumstances of individual cases,” the RBI said.
This data comes at a time when investigating agencies are looking into several such cases in banks.
On April 26, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case against 15 former and serving senior officials of IDBI Bank, 11 companies and their directors, and 24 others, including Aircel founder C Sivasankaran, for allegedly cheating the bank out of Rs 600 crore.
Billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi fled the country in January after allegedly defrauding the Punjab National Bank of over Rs 13,000 crore. Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has fled to the United Kingdom after allegedly cheating banks of Rs 9,000 crore.
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