If you thought that bank frauds in India are perpetrated only by a handful like Nirav Modi, think again. An RTI application has revealed that as many as 2,480 cases of frauds have been detected across 18 public sector banks and the total value of funds is a whopping Rs 32,000 crore. This is just the figure for the first quarter.
Out of the cases detected, State Bank of India accounts for about 50% of them, which is 1197 fraud cases SBI involving Rs 12,012.77 crore. After SBI, it’s Allahabad Bank followed by Punjab National Bank, with 381 and 99 cases and the amounts these banks were cheated of were Rs 2,855.46 crore and Rs 2,526.55 crore respectively.
However, from the details obtained by this individual from Madhya Pradesh from RBI through RTI, it is not clear what was the nature of these frauds and how much banks have been able to recover or have to be considered as total losses.
Continuing with the details shared by RBI on the frauds detected by different public sector banks during the first quarter, Bank of Baroda accounted for 75 cases and Rs 2,297.05 crore, Oriental Bank of Commerce, 45 cases of fraud amounting to Rs 2,133.08 crore and Canara Bank, 69 cases and Rs 2,035.81 crore.
194 cases worth Rs 1,982.27 crore were detected in Central Bank of India, 31 cases of fraud of Rs 1,196.19 crore in United Bank of India and Rs 960.80 crore worth fraud in 16 cases were found in Corporation Bank. Indian Overseas Bank accounted for Rs 934.67 crore in 46 cases, Syndicate Bank Rs 795.75 crore in 54 cases, Union Bank of India Rs 753.37 crore in 51 cases, Bank of India, Rs 517 crore in 42 cases and UCO Bank detected Rs 470.74 crore fraud in 34 cases.
Bank of Maharashtra, Andhra Bank, Indian Bank and Punjab and Sind Bank too had cases of frauds committed in their respective banks.