Karnataka tops southern states in bank robberies

Karnataka has recorded the largest number of bank robberies among south Indian states in the last over five years. However, it is not clear how many ATM thefts have taken place across the country as neither the Centre nor Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has any specific data on that.

Karnataka tops the list of bank robberies, at 179 since 2013-14, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 154 and Tamil Nadu at 130. The newly created Telangana too has entered the list with 27 bank thefts in just about two and a half years since 2016.

The data also showed that while the cases of bank heist significantly reduced in major south Indian states in 2017-18 and 2018-19, in Karnataka they were on the rise.

On a country-wide basis, however, Bihar emerged as the most notorious state with 434 bank robberies since 2013-14, followed by West Bengal at 371.

The data was tabled by the Ministry of Finance in the Lok Sabha last week to a query on rising ATM thefts in the country.

Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in reply to a written question that there was no specific data on ATM thefts in the country. However, the data provided by RBI on overall bank robberies and thefts also includes ATM heists.

The minister scotched rumours that at least 2,500 ATMs were being closed across the country. He said there was no move in the government to shut down ATMs.