Bank Losses due to Frauds close to ₹ 70000 Crore in 5 years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 20, 2018
Government data indicates that bank losses due to frauds were to the extent of ₹ 70000 crore in the 5-year period between 2012-13 and 2016-17. Nirav Modi’s case involving a total amount of ₹  11000 crore is more than the extent of loss PNB reported in the 5-year period.
After the $1.77 billion fraud surfaced in the Punjab National Bank (PNB), the focus has shifted to such frauds in various banks. Data  shared by the government  in the Rajya Sabha indicates that the extent of loss to scheduled commercial banks because of frauds involving ₹ 1 lakh & above, was close to ₹ 70000 crore between 2012-13 and 2016-17.
Frauds increase by 20% in 5 years
The total number of active frauds in 78 scheduled commercial banks, involving ₹ 1 lakh & above, increased from 4235 in 2012-13 to 5076 in 2016-17 as per the  data shared  by the government in the Rajya Sabha.
SBI & ICICI report more than 2500 frauds each during this period
Out of the 22949 frauds reported by the 78 scheduled commercial banks during this 5-year period, SBI & ICICI Bank reported more than 2500 fraud cases each. HDFC bank with 1146 cases was 3rd  in the list. Bank of Baroda & Axis Bank were the only other banks that reported more than 1000 cases each. Punjab National Bank reported 942 fraud cases during this period.
Loss to Banks close to ₹ 70000 crore in 5 years
As per the data shared by the government, the extent of loss to the 78 scheduled commercial banks due to these frauds is  ₹ 69770 crore in these 5 years. The extent of loss increased by about 70% between 2012-13 and 2016-17. The extent of loss was more or less close to ₹ 17000 crore in each of the 3 years starting from 2014-15.
PNB lost the most amount in these 5 years
Of the 78 banks whose data was shared by the government, Punjab National Bank’s (PNB) loss was close to ₹ 9000 crore in these 5 years, the highest for any bank. Nirav Modi’s case involving a total amount of ₹ 11000 crore is more than what PNB has reported in this 5-year period. SBI loss was ₹ 6228 crore followed by Bank of Baroda whose loss was ₹ 4412 crore. The extent of loss was more than ₹ 1000 crore for over 20 banks.
Maharashtra tops in the number of Bank frauds
Maharashtra, whose capital Mumbai is regarded as the country’s financial capital, has reported the most number of  bank fraud cases  between April 2013 and June 2016. Maharashtra reported 1279 fraud cases followed by  Uttar Pradesh where 1069 such cases were reported. Delhi is the only other state with more than 1000 reported fraud cases during this period. The total amount involved in these frauds was also highest in Maharashtra (₹ 13,164 crore) followed by ₹ 9129 crore in West Bengal. Sikkim reported only 257 cases, but the amount involved was ₹ 1335 crore. A total of 9 states reported fraud cases where the total amount involved was more than ₹ 1000 crore during this period.