The Reserve Bank of India's annual report shows that fraud by and other financial institutions in value more than halved in 2021 -- 22, despite the number of cases of fraud increasing.
In the year 2021-23 frauds to the tune of 60,414 crore were reported, down 56.28 per cent from Rs 1.38 trillion in 2020- 21. In terms of number of frauds, these entities reported 23.69 per cent higher frauds at 9,103 in 2021 -- 22 as opposed to 7,359 frauds in 2020 -- 21. The RBI data only considers frauds of 1 lakh and above.
An assessment of bank group-wise fraud cases over the last three years shows that while private sector reported maximum number of frauds, the public sector contributed maximum to the fraud amount shown.
The report said that the fraud amount reported by public sector banks was mainly in the loan portfolio, while the number of reported private sector frauds was mainly due to small value card internet frauds.
There have been a lot of frauds in the loan portfolio, both in terms of number and value. In terms of the number of frauds, advances constituted 42.2 per cent and in value terms it was almost 97 per cent at Rs 58,328 crore. The internet was responsible for 39.5 per cent of the number of frauds, but in value terms it was just 0.2 per cent.
An analysis of the vintage of frauds reported during 2020 -- 21 and 2021 -- 22 shows a significant time-lag between the date of occurrence of a fraud. Nearly 93.73 per cent of the frauds in 2021-22 by value occurred in previous fiscal years, against 91.71 per cent recorded in 2020-21, the RBI said.