New Delhi/Mumbai : Central bank data, which Reuters has obtained via a right-to-information (RTI) request, reveals that India’s state lenders reported 8,670 cases of “loan fraud” totalling Rs 612.6 billion, or $9.58 billion, over the past five fiscal years, up to March 31, 2017.
In the RTI request, a Reuters journalist sought data from 20 of India’s 21 state-run banks and obtained 15 replies. Scandal-hit PNB topped the list with 389 cases totalling Rs 65.62 billion, or $1.03 billion, over the past five financial years, in terms of the total amounts involved. After PNB, the Bank of Baroda had the highest amount of loan fraud reported, with Rs 44.73 billion from 389 cases. The Bank of India (BoI) ranked third, with loan frauds totalling Rs 40.5 billion from 231 cases over the same period.
SBI reported 1,069 loan fraud cases over the past five financial years but did not disclose the amount. The Reuters report said the news agency could not obtain a detailed breakdown on the exact nature and method of the loan frauds the banks reported to the RBI over the past five financial years.