Over 6,800 cases of bank fraud involving an unprecedented Rs 71,500 crore have been reported in 2018-19, the Reserve Bank of India has said.

A total of 5,916 such cases were reported by banks in 2017-18 involving Rs 41,167.03 crore, it said.As many as 6,801 cases of fraud were reported by scheduled commercial banks and select financial institutions involving an amount of Rs 71,542.93 crore in the last fiscal, the Reserve Bank of India said in reply to an RTI query filed by this.

A total of 4,534 and 4,093 such cases were reported in 2010-11 and 2011-12 involving Rs 3,815.76 crore and Rs 4,501.15 crore, respectively.

In the 2012-13 fiscal, 4,235 fraud cases involving Rs 8,590.86 crore were reported by banks as against 4,306 cases in 2013-14 and 4,639 cases in 2014-15, the RBI said.

As many as 4,693 and 5,076 cases of fraud were reported in 2015-16 and 2016-17 involving Rs 18,698.82 crore and Rs 23,933.85 crore, respectively, it said.

The large-scale fraud had prompted anti-corruption watchdog Central Vigilance Commission to do an analysis and it came out with a report on top 100 frauds.

The analysis focused on the modus operandi, amount involved, type of lending (consortium or individual), anomalies observed, loopholes that facilitated perpetration of the fraud concerned and the systemic improvement required to plug the gaps in the system and procedures.

The frauds were classified and analysed for 13 sectors, including gem and jewellery, manufacturing and industry, agriculture, media, aviation, service and project, discounting of cheques, trading, information technology, export business, fixed deposits, demand loan and letter of comfort.

“Cases of fraud reported to the RBI are required to be filed by banks as criminal complaints with law-enforcement agencies. The information in respect of action being taken or already taken is not available readily,” the central bank said.

The data assumes significance as banks are grappling with high-profile fraud cases involving absconding billionaire Nirav Modi and liquor baron Vijay Mallya, among others.

The measures suggested by the CVC included strengthening standard operating procedures and the monitoring system, among others.

The CBI in 2018 booked top officials of two public sector banks, a former CMD of IDBI Bank, former Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran, his son and companies controlled by him in connection with a Rs 600-crore loan fraud in the IDBI.