RBI Annual Report: Bank frauds rise 166% in FY24 to over 36,000

Reserve Bank of India

The number of frauds in banks rose 166 percent year-on-year in the financial year 2023-24 to 36,075, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) annual report released on May 30. The numbers were sharply higher than 13,564 reported in FY23.

However, the amount involved in the total bank frauds fell 46.7 percent YoY in the financial year 2023-24 to Rs 13,930 crore. The amount in FY23 was Rs 26,127 crore.

An assessment of bank group-wise fraud cases over the last three years indicates that while private sector banks reported maximum number of frauds, public sector banks continued to contribute maximum to the fraud amount, the annual report said.

Further, the annual report said frauds have occurred predominantly in the category of digital payments (card/internet) in terms of number and in value terms, frauds have been reported primarily in the loan portfolio (advances category).

While small value card/internet frauds contributed maximum to the number of frauds reported by the private sector banks, the frauds in public sector banks were mainly in loan portfolio, report said.

The report said an analysis of the vintage of frauds reported during 2022-23 and 2023-24 shows a significant time-lag between the date of occurrence of a fraud and its detection.

The amount involved in frauds that occurred in previous financial years formed 94.0 per cent of the frauds reported in 2022-23 in terms of value.
Similarly, 89.2 per cent of the frauds reported in 2023-24 by value occurred in previous financial years, RBI said in annual report.