The shares of private lender IDFC First Bank fell around 20% on Monday after the bank disclosed fraudulent transactions amounting to ₹590 crore. The shares were changing hands at ₹66.85 during the early trade from the previous close of ₹83.56.
The fall wiped off millions from investors' wealth, including Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and the government of India who are among the bank's top shareholders. There were pending sell orders of 2,152,520 shares during the morning session, with no buyers available, showed exchange data.
The lender's shares were trading at ₹70.71 and ₹70.04 at 12:22 PM in NSE and BSE, respectively.
3 February 2026
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The fraudulent activity was disclosed by the bank on Saturday night. In a exchange filing, the lender revealed that certain employees at one of its branches in Chandigarh were allegedly involved in unauthorised and fraudulent transactions amounting to ₹590 crore from accounts linked to the Haryana government.
The issue came to light after IDFC First Bank received a request from a department of the government of Haryana to close its account and transfer the funds to another bank. During this process, the bank noticed discrepancies between the amount mentioned in the request and the actual balance in the account.
The bank further said that from February 18, 2026 onwards, other Haryana government entities also approached the bank regarding their respective accounts. While reviewing these accounts, the bank found differences between the balances recorded in its system and the amounts stated by the account-holding entities.
Following the discovery, the bank suspended four officials suspected to be involved in the matter. It said it would take strict disciplinary, civil and criminal action against both employees and any external individuals found responsible, in line with the law.
Simultaneously, the Haryana government de-empanelled IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank for government business with immediate effect, according to an official circular. Under this, no government funds will be parked, deposited, invested or transacted through these two institutions.
