State-run banks lose over Rs30,000 cr to frauds between FY12 and FY15: Report

Public sector banks in India have reportedly lost at least Rs30,873.86 crore to frauds in the four years between 2011-12 and 2014-15 even as the 26 state-owned banks are expecting a Rs25,000 crore government bailout in the coming financial year.

Reports citing finance ministry documents say most of these losses are due to frauds involving losses of over Rs1 lakh or more. Some of these cases are being probed by investigating agencies.

India's top lender, State Bank of India (SBI), and its five associate banks have lost a total of Rs5,881.20 crore during the four years, with SBI losing the bulk of this (Rs3,461.74 crore) in some 2,049 reported fraud cases, while State Bank of Hyderabad was the second-biggest loser with Rs876.43 crore lost in 139 fraud cases reported during the period.

IDBI has lost Rs1,350.69 crore in the four-year period in 388 reported fraud cases.

Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank, Canara Bank and Vijaya Bank, all based out of Karnataka, have lost a cumulative Rs4,342.10 crore, with the Canara Bank reporting the highest loss of Rs1,309.14 crore in 334 reported cases of fraud.

Syndicate Bank is reported to have lost Rs1,133.31 crore during the four years between 2011-12 and 2014-15 in 445 reported cases of fraud involving Rs1 lakh or more, says the report.

In the latest development, the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is also probing the Kingfisher Airlines case, arrested a chartered accountant of Udaipur and a businessman of Jaipur in an on-going investigation of a case relating to an alleged loss of approximately Rs1,000 crore to Syndicate Bank.

CBI has registered a case under several sections of the IPC besides the Prevention of Corruption Act, indicating involvement of insiders.

In March last year, the CBI investigated a case against a private firm in Ahmedabad and its director after a joint complaint received from State Bank of India, Vijaya Bank and Canara Bank.

It was alleged that the firm expressing urgency for releasing the funds had got it released, pending execution of individual documents. Sources had pointed out that after the release of the money, the man disappeared from India.

In another case that year, an MD of a private firm from Bhopal was arrested after he went absconding in a case related to alleged loss caused to State Bank of Indore.

The CBI had said that he had conspired with officials at the bank and dishonestly and fraudulently obtained credit facilities on the basis of fake collateral securities.

Obtaining loans through fake documents is seen as a common modus operandi across cases, and investigators have often found involvement of insiders from the banks.

CBI is also probing IDBI Bank in the Kingfisher Airlines case.

PSU banks registered their biggest losses in 2014-15 although the year recorded the least number of fraud cases. PSU banks lost Rs11,022.32 crore in 2,166 frauds during the year.