An analysis of frauds reported across banks has shown that the number of fraud cases reported in FY24 were 36,075, up nearly 300 per cent from the 9,046 cases reported in FY22. However, the amount involved has fallen from Rs 45,358 crore to Rs 13,930 crore, the central bank said in its annual report for FY24 on Thursday.
There was a 46.7 per cent drop in the amount involved in total fraudsreported during FY24, on an annual basis.
RBI noted that while private sector banks reported the maximum number of frauds over the last three years, the public sector banks contributed maximum to the fraud amount.
In terms of number, frauds occured predominantly in digital payments (card payments and internet), RBI said. However, in terms of value, the frauds were reported primarily in loan portfolio.
“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,” RBI’s analysis showed.
The number of frauds reported related to card and internet payments increased from 3,596 in FY22 to 29,082 in FY24. In terms of value, it increased from Rs 155 crore in FY22 to Rs 1,457.
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Significant lag
In a study done over the cases reported during FY23 and FY24, RBI noticed a ‘significant’ time lag between the date of the occurence 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 FY23 in terms of value, RBI said. Around 89 per cent of the frauds reported in FY24 by value, occurred in previous fiscals.
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