A total of 2,480 cases of fraud involving a huge sum of Rs 31,898.63 crore rattled 18 public sector banks in the first quarter of this fiscal, an RTI query has revealed.

The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) remained the biggest prey to frauds with 38 per cent share, Neemuch-based activist Chandrashekhar Gaur told PTI on Sunday quoting an official of the RBI who furnished him replies to his RTI application. As many as 1,197 cases of cheating involving Rs 12,012.77 crore were detected in SBI in the first quarter, according to the RTI reply.

After SBI, Allahabad Bank faced the heat with 381 cheating cases involving Rs 2,855.46 crore. Punjab National Bank stood third in the list with 99 sham cases worth Rs 2,526.55 crore. However, the information provided by the RBI does not give specific details of the nature of banking fraud and the losses suffered by banks or their customers. On losses suffered by PSU banks due to frauds, the RBI said it did not have figures available as to how much amount was lost by theses banks during the period under review.

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A total of 75 cases of fraud involving Rs 2,297.05 crore were reported in Bank of Baroda in the first quarter, while 45 cases of fraud amounting to Rs 2,133.08 crore in Oriental Bank of Commerce, 69 cases worth Rs 2,035.81 crore in Canara Bank, 194 cases worth Rs 1,982.27 crore in Central Bank of India, 31 cases of fraud of Rs 1,196.19 crore in United Bank of India were witnessed.

Likewise, Corporation Bank detected Rs 960.80 crore worth fraud in 16 cases, Indian Overseas Bank Rs 934.67 crore in 46 cases, Syndicate Bank Rs 795.75 crore in 54 cases, Union Bank of India Rs 753.37 crore in 51 cases, Bank of India, Rs 517 crore in 42 cases and UCO Bank detected Rs 470.74 crore fraud in 34 cases. Other banks, which fell victim to fraud included Bank of Maharashtra, Andhra Bank, Indian Bank and Punjab and Sind Bank.

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