More Stories

Informist, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026

 

--RBI Malhotra: No systemic risk from IDFC FIRST Bk fraud 

 

NEW DELHI – The INR-5.9-billion discrepancy reported by IDFC FIRST Bank involving an account of Haryana government is not a "systemic issue", Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said. "We are watching the development...there is no systemic issue over here," Malhotra said in a press conference Monday following the post-Budget meeting of RBI Board of Directors with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here.

 

On Saturday, IDFC FIRST Bank informed exchanges that it had received a request from a Haryana government department for closure of its account at a Chandigarh branch and transfer of funds to another bank. In the process, the bank observed differences in the balances in the account and the balances mentioned by the Haryana government department. The discrepancy observed was of INR 4.9 billion and additional INR 1 billion was identified by the bank, taking the total discrepancy amount to INR 5.9 billion.

 

Earlier in the day, the bank's management said it has suspended the employees suspected of fraudulent activities and so far it has not come across the involvement of senior management. At 1252 IST, shares of the bank were down 15.7% at INR 70.41 on the National Stock Exchange. The stock had fallen to a low of INR 66.80 earlier in the day.

 

"This is basically a case where debit instructions have come supposedly from the client, which our people--which clearly, to us, indicate the fraudulent activity--have passed the entries and have transferred the money to certain parties outside the bank from the client's account," V. Vaidyanathan, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, said in a conference call. "So this looks to us, on the basis of the work we've done, clearly, a case of an employee fraud. And also our internal fingerprints and our details are quite clear that external parties are also involved here," Vaidyanathan said.

 

The fraud was committed through physical transactions involving cheques, Vaidyanathan said, adding that this "obviously happened" because of the connivance of employees. "The whole system exists but obviously, there is some bunch of people who have come together to make it happen," Vaidyanathan said. The bank does not see major financial implication from the incident and will be able to manage comfortably, the management also said.  End

 

Reported by Aaryan Khanna and Pratiksha

Written by Priyasmita Dutta

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.