SBI's biggest victim of fraud with 18 government banks in a year, SBI biggest victim

OBN: National: Friday, 24 July 2020.

The Reserve Bank of India reported that in the last financial year 2019-20, 12,461 cases of fraud amounting to a total of Rs 1,48,427.65 crore have been reported by the then 18 public sector banks. Right to Information (RTI) activist Chandrasekhar Gaur, resident of Neemuch in the state, said that the Reserve Bank has given this information to him under RTI.

If you look at the data from RTI, then in the last financial year, the biggest victim of fraud became State Bank of India (SBI), the top bank of the public sector.

During this period, 6,964 cases involving fraud of Rs 44,612.93 crore were reported by SBI. This amount is about 30 percent of the total amount of fraud in 18 state-owned banks during the last financial year. The Reserve Bank said that 395 cases of fraud were reported by Punjab National Bank from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020 involving an amount of Rs 15,354 crore. Bank of Baroda stood third in this list with 349 cases involving fraud of Rs 12,586.68 crore.

Significantly, the merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank into Bank of Baroda came into force from April 1, 2019. During the period under review, Union Bank of India paid Rs 9,316.80 crore in 424 cases, Bank of India Rs 8,069.14 crore in 200 cases, Canara Bank Rs 7,519.30 crore in 208 cases, Indian Overseas Bank Rs 7,275.48 crore in 207 cases, Allahabad Bank Reported fraud of Rs 6,973.90 crore in 896 cases and UCO bank Rs 5,384.53 crore in 119 cases.

Under the Right to Information Act, the Reserve Bank said that during the period from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, Oriental Bank of Commerce has collected Rs 5,340.87 crore in 329 cases, Syndicate Bank has Rs 4,999.03 crore in 438 cases, Corporation Bank in 125 cases. 4,816.60 crore, Central Bank of India Rs. 3,993.82 crore in 900 cases, Andhra Bank Rs. 3,462.32 crore in 115 cases, Bank of Maharashtra Rs. 3,391.13 crore in 413 cases, United Bank of India Rs. 2,679.72 crore in 87 cases, Indian The bank reported fraud of Rs 2,254.11 crore in 225 cases and Rs 397.28 crore in 67 cases by the Punjab and Sindh bank.

However, the information provided by the Reserve Bank under the RTI has not given specific details of the nature of banking fraud cases and the losses caused to the erstwhile 18 state-run banks or their customers. It is worth noting that after a series of consolidation in the past years, the number of public sector banks in the country has now been 12.