Bank frauds soar 46% to Rs 48,000 crore in FY26: RBI

MUMBAI, MAY 29: Despite a steep fall in the number of fraud cases to 10,114 from 23,722 a year ago, the money involved in fraud cases reported by banks shot up by a hefty 46% to Rs 48,021 crore in FY26 from Rs 32,803 crore, the Reserve Bank said in its FY26 annual report.

Of the total, public sector banks accounted for the vast majority of Rs 35,709 crore in FY26 as against Rs 23,617 crore last year and the share of their private sector peers were only Rs 11,399 crore, but rose from Rs 8,927 crore, the RBI said.

The amount involved in advances of banks shot up to Rs 40,774 crore in 8,640 fraud cases as against Rs 30,367 crore form across 7,924 cases in the previous year, the central bank said in its annual report Friday.

The latest data include fraud classification in 314 cases amounting to Rs 30,199 crore, pertaining to previous financial years, reported afresh during the current financial year after re-examination and ensuring compliance with the judgement of the Supreme Court, dated March 27, 2023, the RBI said.

 “Frauds reported in the fiscal year 2026 could have occurred several years prior to the year of reporting,” the RBI said Friday.

Interestingly, fraud amount involved in cards and digital payments fell to Rs 29 crore (293 cases) in FY26 against Rs 517 crore (13,332 cases) in FY25 and Rs 1,452 crore (28,836 cases) in FY24, RBI said.

 “An assessment of bank group-wise fraud cases over the last three years indicates that although the number of frauds for public and private sectors banks have reduced, the amount involved has increased over the years,” the report said.

While number of frauds was highest under card internet/digital payments category in FY24 and FY25, advances category accounted for the largest share in FY26. In value terms, frauds were concentrated in the advances category across the three years, the RBI said.

The central bank is looking at introducing a ‘switch on’ and ‘switch off’ facility for all digital payment modes along with a ‘kill switch’ to block all debits from the account in one stroke. This facility would help bolster consumer confidence and contribute towards controlling frauds in digital payment transactions, the RBI Annual Report said.

A ‘kill switch facility’ is a mechanism that allows a system, device, account, or service to be shut down, disabled or blocked immediately in an emergency or under specific conditions.

-PTI