The Reserve Bank of India has revealed that India has lost a minimum of Rs. 100 crore every day to bank frauds or scams in the last seven years.
This is despite a year on year reduction in the total amount involved.
Maharashtra Ranked First; 50% Losses Reported To Fraud
As per the report, Maharashtra has ranked first in this table and accounted for 50% of the money involved. The state has been followed by Delhi, Telangana, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, and together these states accounted for Rs. 2 lakh crore, which is 83% of the quantum of the money lost to financial fraud.
A banking fraud of Rs. 2.5 lakh was detected across states between the time period from April 1, 2015 and December 31 last year.
The frauds have been classified into eight categories by the RBI: misappropriation and criminal breach of trust; fraudulent encashment through forged instruments, manipulation of books of account or through fictitious accounts and conversion of property; unauthorised credit facilities extended for reward or for illegal gratification; negligence and cash shortages; cheating and forgery; irregularities in foreign exchange transactions and any other type of fraud not coming under the specific heads as above.
Measures Taken Reduced Fraud Incidents: Finance Minister
The finance ministry has said that measures have been taken for prompt reporting and prevention, which reduced the incidence of fraud year on year.
According to a finance ministry statement, “improved detection and reporting, including legacy stock of NPAs, accompanied with comprehensive steps taken to check frauds have resulted in a sharp decline in occurrence”.
The quantum of money lost to fraud was Rs 67,760 crore in 2015-16, and it went down to Rs 59,966.4 crore in 2016-17. In the two years after this, the quantum of money lost was reported to be Rs. 45000 crore. In 2019-20, the fraud accounted for a loss of Rs 27,698.4 crore and then to Rs 10,699.9 crore in 2020-21. Whereas, the first nine months of this financial year reported a loss of Rs 647.9 crore to frauds.
As per Y Sudarshan, former president, All India Bank Officers Confederation, the reduce in the rate of fraud can be credited to the measures being implemented to punish those that indulge in financial malpractice, but also to prevent it.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.