The RBI’s annual report has revealed that the number of cases of frauds reported by banks increased by 15% year-on-year basis in 2018-19, along with the amount involved increasing by 73.8% in the year.
The banking sector in FY19, has reported 6,801 frauds involving Rs 71,542.93 crore as against 5,916 cases involving Rs 41,167.04 crore reported in 2017-18.
PSBs, among bank groups, have accounted for the bulk of frauds reported in 2018-19, followed by private sector banks and foreign banks. In the same year, state-run banks reported 3,766 cases of frauds worth Rs 64,509.43 crore as against 2,885 cases involving Rs 38,260.8 crore.
The report revealed, “the average lag for large frauds, i.e. Rs 100 crore and above, amounting to Rs 52,200 crore reported during 2018-19, was 55 months,” it said.
Meanwhile, in case of area of operations, frauds related to advances constituted the prevalent share of the total amount involved in frauds in 2018-19, while the share of frauds in off-balance sheet items declined from a year ago.
The number of frauds in connection to advances was prevalent followed by card/internet related frauds and deposits related frauds, revealed the report.
Frauds relating to card/internet and deposits constituted only 0.3% of the total value of frauds in 2018-19. Cheating and forgery was the major component, followed by misappropriation and criminal breach of trust. The report also has showed fraud cases involving an amount of less than 1 lakh were only 0.1% of the total amount involved in 2018-19.