Leading private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank recorded aa many as 5,278 cases of fraud in the first quarter (April to June) of the current financial year (2022-23), according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.In stark contrast, the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) reported only nine fraud cases during the same period.
Though the nature of fraud and the quantum of amount involved in the cases is not specified in the data, the huge number of frauds reported by Kotak Mahindra Bank does raise concern.Compared to this figure, other leading private sector banks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Indusind Bank and Axis Bank stood far behind Kotak Mahindra Bank in terms of frauds reported up to the June quarter of the current fiscal.ICICI Bank reported 436 cases of fraud during the period, followed by HDFC Bank (303), Indusind Bank (200), and Axis Bank (195). RBL Bank reported 150 cases of fraud during the first quarter of FY2022-23, according to RBI.Compared to this, the number of fraud cases reported by top public sector banks of the country such as SBI, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Central Bank of India (CBI), Canara Bank, Bank of India (BoI), Bank of Maharashtra and Bank of Baroda (BoB) during the same period mostly stood in single digit, with Canara Bank not reporting even a single case.Except for IOB with 31 cases and Central Bank of India with 19 cases of fraud reported in the first quarter of the current fiscal, all the other major public sector banks reported less than 10 fraud cases during the period under review.The country’s largest lender SBI reported nine fraud cases, PNB reported eight cases, followed BoB (five), Indian Bank (three), and Bank of Maharashtra and Bank of India (two each).