The latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data shows that frauds in Indian banking system rose 72 per cent in the financial year 2017-18 as fraudsters looted Rs 41,167.7 crore from the banks as against Rs 23,933 crore in the previous financial year, Financial Express has reported.

According to the report, the frauds happened despite tough measures taken by the banks. However, the increase can also be attributed to Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. The case involves diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

“In terms of amount, frauds in the banking sector increased sharply in 2017-18, mainly reflecting a large value case in the jewellery sector,” the RBI said.

The maximum number of fraud cases worth over 1 lakh rupees, which constitutes 93 per cent of total cases, were reported by the public sector undertaking (PSU) banks while private banks accounted for just 6 per cent such instances.

The high-value frauds, Rs 50 crore and above, constituted nearly 80 per cent of all the frauds reported in the last financial year.

As per the report, a total of 5,917 bank fraud cases were registered during the last financial year compared to 5,076 cases in the previous fiscal. The most prevalent cases involved foreign exchange related transactions, deposit accounts, off-balance sheet operations and cyber security.

The cyber frauds also saw a rise as the banks lost Rs 109.6 crore in 2,059 cases in the last fiscal as against Rs 42.3 crore in 1,372 cases in the previous financial year.