Amount involved in bank fraud declines to Rs 3,785 crore in FY22: Karad

The amount involved in frauds reported by banks and select financial institutions based on the date of occurrence of fraud declined significantly from Rs 32,178 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 3,785 crore in 2021-22, Union minister Bhagwat Karad said on Monday.

As per the RBI data, frauds involving the amount of Rs 11,800 crore were detected in 2020-2021, the Minister of State for Finance said in a written reply to the ?Lok Sabha.

In reply to another question, Karad said the Government, in view of the unprecedented and extreme COVID-19 situation, provided ex-gratia relief to eligible borrowers, by way of payment of the difference between compound interest and simple interest, on the outstanding as of February 29, 2020, for the moratorium period, i.e. from March 1, 2020, to August 31, 2020.

Under this, he said, about 19.92 crore borrowers have benefitted with an aggregate ex-gratia amount of Rs 6,474 crore.

To mitigate the debt servicing burden on account of the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure continuity of viable businesses, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on March 27, 2020, announced the COVID-19 Regulatory Package.

Under this, RBI permitted lending institutions to grant a moratorium of three months on payment of all instalments falling due between March 1, 2020, and May 31, 2020, in respect of all term loans, and to defer the recovery of interest in respect of working capital loans for the same period, which was further extended by three months, i.e. up to August 31, 2020.