Indian banks report over 7-fold rise in card, digital frauds

Indian banks report over 7-fold rise in card, digital frauds

Indian banks reported a total of 12,069 card and internet-related digital frauds during H1FY24 (April-September) amounting to Rupees 630 crore, up seven-fold from Rupees 87 crore of frauds in the corresponding period previous fiscal, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) trends and progress in banking 2023 report said.

Overall, lenders reported a total of 14,483 frauds amounting to Rupees 2,642 crore, the lowest in six years. “Based on the date of occurrence of frauds, the average amount involved declined during 2022-23, with the number of cases concentrated in card or internet-related fraud,” the report said.

Along with a decline in the overall value of frauds, the RBI also penalised lenders lesser in FY23 than in FY22. For instance, the regulator imposed a total of Rupees 3.7 crore penalty on seven instances of non-compliance at public sector banks in FY23, as against Rupees 17.6 crore penalty imposed for 13 instances in FY22.

Private banks were penalised significantly more than public sector banks in FY23, with the regulator imposing Rupees 12.2 crore of penalty on seven instances of violations by such lenders. The central bank imposed the highest penalty on cooperative banks, as it penalised a sum of Rs 14 crore for 176 violations by this category of lenders.