Financial Institutions Report Over 10,000 Cases of Fraud Involving ₹48,000 Cr in FY26: RBI Data

• Bank frauds down 57% to 10,114 cases but up 46% to ₹48,021 Cr in FY26 vs FY25

• PSBs: 5,418 cases (down) but amount surged to ₹35,709 Cr; private banks: 3,956 cases, ₹11,399 Cr

• Advances category led with 8,640 cases/₹40,774 Cr; digital payment frauds crashed to 293 cases/₹29 Cr

Banks and financial institutions, taken together, reported 10,114 fraud cases involving ₹48,021 crore in 2025-26, against 23,722 cases involving ₹32,803 crore in 2024-25, according to the annual report for the Reserve Bank released on Friday.

An assessment of bank group-wise fraud cases over the last three years indicates that although the number of frauds for public and private sectors banks has reduced, the amount involved has increased over the years, said the RBI Annual Report for 2025-26.

While the number of frauds was the highest under card/internet/digital payments category during 2023-24 and 2024-25, advances category accounted for the largest share in 2025-26.

In value terms, frauds were concentrated in the advances category across three years.

Public sector banks (PSBs) reported a decline in the number of fraud cases in 2025-26 year-on-year, though the amount involved rose sharply to ₹35,709 crore.

State-owned banks reported 5,418 fraud cases during 2025-26, lower than 6,916 cases in 2024-25 and 7,446 in 2023-24.

The amount involved in such frauds at PSBs was ₹23,617 crore in 2024-25 and ₹8,092 crore in 2023-24.

According to the data on fraud cases, private sector banks also reported a fall in the number of fraud cases to 3,956 in 2025-26 from 14,024 in the preceding fiscal year and 23,965 in 2023-24.

The amount involved in frauds at private banks stood at ₹11,399 crore in 2025-26 against ₹8,927 crore in FY25 and ₹2,667 crore in FY24.

Foreign banks reported 210 fraud cases involving ₹290 crore during 2025-26, compared with 1,447 cases involving ₹181 crore in the preceding year.

Small finance banks reported 467 fraud cases involving ₹114 crore in 2025-26, while payments banks recorded 47 fraud cases amounting to ₹11 crore.

A total of 8,640 fraud cases involving ₹40,774 crore in advances category in the last fiscal year, compared to 7,924 cases involving ₹30,367 during 2024-25 and 4,105 cases involving ₹8,917 crore during 2023-24.

Card/internet/digital payments fraud cases stood at 293 involving ₹29 crore, significantly down from 13,332 (₹517 crore) during 2024-25 and 28,836 (₹1,452 crore) in 2023-24, the data showed.

The data relates to frauds of ₹1 lakh and above reported during the period and added that frauds reported in a year could have occurred several years earlier.

The RBI said the data for 2025-26 includes fraud classification in 314 cases amounting to ₹30,199 crore pertaining to previous financial years, which were reported afresh after re-examination following the Supreme Court's March 2023 judgement.

To enhance cyber resilience across the supervised entities (SEs), the Reserve Bank has operationalised the Cyber Range initiative through a 'state-of-the-art' platform deployed at Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDBRT).

The RBI said the platform facilitates cyber drill exercises based on simulated scenarios, including incidents observed or reported across SEs, thereby strengthening sectoral preparedness, response capabilities, and resilience against emerging cyber threats.

The RBI said it will initiate micro-data analytics project for cyber risk and review of risk-based approach for KYC/AML supervision during the current fiscal year.