After Supreme Court's verdict, banking frauds in the eye of the beholder

The chain from detection to redressal is a long and tangled one

The Supreme Court’s (SC’s) verdict last week that borrowers must be heard before an account is classified as fraud is a big relief for India Inc. Though it places the onus on banks before they proceed down this line, the spotlight is firmly on an issue that doesn’t get the attention it deserves: the frauds chain, from its detection to redressal.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) Annual Report for 2020-21 noted that the average time lag between the date of occurrence of a fraud and its detection is 23 months; for large frauds (Rs 100 crore and above), it