Banks reported 44,016 cases of fraud involving Rs 1,85,624 crore in last 11 years

New Delhi: Banks and select financial institutions have reported 44,016 cases of fraud in the last 11 years beginning 2008-09 involving amount of Rs 1,85,624 crore, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

The year 2016-17 witnessed reporting of 3,927 cases of fraud involving an amount of Rs 25,883.99 crore, which was the highest in the last 11 years, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

In the following year, the number of such cases rose to 4,228 but the amount involved declined to Rs 9,866.23 crore.

In 2018-19, 2,836 cases of fraud were reported involving an amount of Rs 6,734.60 crore, he said.

During 2012-13, banks and select financial institutions reported 4,504 cases with amount involving Rs 24,819.36 crore.

The government has taken comprehensive steps to reduce the incidence of frauds in banks including examination of all NPA accounts exceeding Rs 50 crore by banks for any possible fraud, he said in reply to a question raised by BJP leader R K Sinha.

Besides, the government has enacted the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 to deter offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts, he said.

The Act provides for attachment of property of a fugitive economic offender, confiscation of such offender's property and disentitlement of the offender from defending any civil claim, he added.

In addition, public sector banks have been advised to obtain a certified copy of the passport of the promoters or directors and other authorised signatories of companies availing loan facilities of more than Rs 50 crore and, decide on publishing photographs of wilful defaulters.

The heads of these banks have also been empowered to issue a request for Look Out Circulars (LOCs), he said.

The impact of the above steps is reflected in Reserve Bank's Financial Stability Report (FSR) of June 2019, he said.