Banks have reported 44,016 frauds amounting to ₹1.85 lakh crore in the last 11 years since 2008-09, according to data provided by the Finance Ministry.

According to a written reply by Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, 2016-17 was the worst year in terms of the amounts involved in bank frauds, with ₹25,883.99 crore involved across 3,927 frauds. This works out to an average of ₹6.6 crore per fraud that year, higher than the average amount of ₹4.21 crore across the 11 years. The frauds being considered in the list are those involving ₹1 lakh or more. Mr. Thakur said that the government had issued a ‘framework for the timely detection, reporting, investigation relating to large value banks frauds’ which mandates, among other things, that all bank accounts exceeding ₹50 crore, if classified as NPAs, be examined by banks from the angle of a possible fraud.

“PSBs [public sector banks] have been advised to obtain certified copy of the passport of the promoters/directors and other authorised signatories of companies availing loan facilities of more than ₹50 crore,” Mr. Thakur said.

“The heads of PSBs have also been empowered to issue requests for issue of Look Out Circulars (LOCs),” Mr. Thakur added.