Bank frauds’ value trebles to over Rs 36,000 crore

New Delhi: The value involved in bank fraud cases tripled to Rs 36,014 crore in the financial year ended March 2025 from Rs 12,230 crore recorded in the previous year, even though the number of cases declined, as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) annual report released on Thursday.

The number of banking fraud cases declined from 36,060 in 2023-24 to 23,953 in 2024-25. In the financial year 2022-23, the total number of banking fraud cases stood at 13,494 while the amount involved was Rs 18,981 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 contributed maximum to the fraud amount

Frauds have occurred predominantly in the category of digital payments (card/internet) in terms of number and primarily in the loan portfolio (advances) in terms of value.

While card/internet frauds contributed maximum to the number of frauds reported by private sector banks, frauds in public sector banks were mainly in loan portfolios, the RBI noted in its report.

The increase in the amount involved in the total frauds reported during 2024- 25 over 2023-24 was mainly due to removal of fraud classification in 122 cases amounting to Rs 18,674 crore reported during previous financial years and reporting afresh during the current financial year after re-examination and ensuring compliance with the judgement of the Supreme Court dated March 27, 2023, it said.

The number of fraud cases reported by private sector banks was more than double at 14,233 against the public sector banks’ 6,935 cases. However, despite the higher number of cases the private sector banks accounted for just 28% share in the total fraud amount while the public sector banks accounted for 71% of it.

Advances fraud rose from Rs 10,072 crore in FY24 to Rs 33,148 crore in FY25. The number of cases related to card/internet transaction frauds declined to 13,516 in 2024-25 from 29,082 in the previous year. However, the amount increased to Rs 1457 crore in FY25 from Rs 520 crore in the previous year.