SRINAGAR: Financial frauds reported by scheduled commercial banks and All India Financial Institutions in Jammu and Kashmir more than doubled in value during 2025-26, with the amount involved rising to Rs 193.49 crore from Rs 81.27 crore a year earlier, while only Rs 6.92 crore was recorded as recovered during the year, according to data placed before the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Jammu and Kashmir recorded 868 financial fraud cases involving Rs 322.31 crore over three years, but only Rs 12.80 crore was recorded as recovered, about 4 per cent of the amount involved
The figures were part of the government response in Lok Sabha to a question. The response said that 103 financial fraud cases were reported in Jammu and Kashmir during 2025-26. The amount involved in these cases was Rs 193.49 crore, of which Rs 6.92 crore was recovered.
This marked a sharp increase in the value of frauds in the Union Territory. In 2024-25, Jammu and Kashmir recorded 298 fraud cases involving Rs 81.27 crore, with Rs 2.65 crore shown as recovered. In 2023-24, 467 cases involving Rs 47.55 crore were reported, while Rs 3.23 crore was recovered.
Taken together, the three years saw 868 reported fraud cases in Jammu and Kashmir involving Rs 322.31 crore, against recorded recoveries of about Rs 12.80 crore.
The latest figures are particularly significant because the number of reported cases actually declined substantially, from 467 in 2023-24 to 298 in 2024-25 and then to 103 in 2025-26, while the value of money involved moved sharply in the opposite direction.
In other words, fewer reported cases in 2025-26 involved substantially larger amounts.
The data, however, does not establish how much of the recovered money was actually refunded to victims. The Ministry of Finance said the Reserve Bank of India had informed it that details of the amount frozen, recovered and refunded to victims are not maintained by it. The government has separately provided state-wise figures for the amount recovered in fraud cases.
Ladakh recorded a much smaller volume of banking and financial fraud during the period. The Union Territory reported eight fraud cases in 2025-26, with the amount involved shown as Rs 0.00 crore and no recovery recorded.
In 2024-25, Ladakh reported 13 cases involving Rs 0.03 crore, with no amount recovered. In 2023-24, there were 18 cases involving Rs 0.07 crore, again with no recovery recorded.
Across the three years, Ladakh therefore recorded 39 cases involving Rs 0.10 crore, with no recovery shown in the state/UT-wise table.
The national data presents a strikingly similar pattern, although on a vastly larger scale.
Across scheduled commercial banks, excluding Regional Rural Banks, and All India Financial Institutions, the number of reported frauds fell from 3,45,778 cases in 2023-24 to 1,78,310 in 2024-25 and 23,369 in 2025-26.
Yet the amount involved increased substantially—from Rs 11,677.86 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 32,043.21 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 47,910.05 crore in 2025-26.
The amount shown as recovered rose from Rs 499.34 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 1,443.35 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 2,905.97 crore in 2025-26. The figures are drawn from the category-wise RBI data annexed to the parliamentary reply.
The sharp rise in the value of fraud in 2025-26 was driven principally by advances-related frauds. Such cases increased in number from 9,391 in 2024-25 to 10,678 in 2025-26, while the amount involved jumped from Rs 29,267.42 crore to Rs 40,739.74 crore. Recoveries in this category rose from Rs 1,236.95 crore to Rs 2,787.90 crore.
By contrast, card and internet fraud cases fell dramatically in the reported data—from 2,93,239 cases in 2023-24 and 1,44,855 in 2024-25 to 5,997 in 2025-26. The amount involved in this category also fell from Rs 2,060.75 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 35.85 crore in 2025-26.
The data therefore suggests a shift in the overall fraud profile, with advances accounting for the overwhelming share of the amount involved in 2025-26.
The Centre has acknowledged that there are no defined timelines for recovery of amounts involved in fraud cases.
According to the Finance Ministry, banks are required under the RBI’s Master Directions on Fraud Risk Management to immediately report fraud incidents to the relevant law-enforcement agencies, including State or UT Police, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office and the Central Bureau of Investigation, depending on the amount involved.
The government said the absence of fixed recovery timelines is linked to the complexity of fraud cases, which can involve multiple agencies, institutions, tribunals and courts. It said all agencies involved attempt to recover and resolve cases at the earliest.
For Jammu and Kashmir, this means that the Rs 6.92 crore shown as recovered in 2025-26 should not automatically be read as the amount refunded to fraud victims. The parliamentary answer makes clear that the RBI does not maintain a corresponding consolidated record of amounts frozen, recovered and refunded to victims.
The government said it has put in place a number of mechanisms aimed at identifying fraud, tracing stolen funds and facilitating restitution.
The RBI has established a Central Fraud Registry, an online searchable database intended to help banks identify, control and mitigate fraud risks. It has also launched MuleHunter, an artificial intelligence-based tool designed to identify money-mule accounts, and advised banks and financial institutions to use it.
The government has also incorporated the Indian Digital Payment Intelligence Corporation (IDPIC) to detect, prevent and analyse fraud in the expanding digital payments ecosystem in real time using technologies including artificial intelligence, machine learning and big-data analytics.
At the consumer end, the government said awareness campaigns are being conducted through SMS, radio, social media and RBI’s electronic banking awareness and training programmes.
For cyber-enabled financial fraud, the Ministry of Home Affairs has established the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C). The National Cybercrime Reporting Portal serves as the public interface for reporting cyber offences, including financial fraud.
The government said that when a financial fraud is reported through the portal or the 1930 helpline, the complaint automatically enters the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS).
The system connects State and UT police agencies with banks and financial intermediaries in real time. It is intended to enable law-enforcement agencies to trace the money trail, identify criminal actors and place immediate lien holdings on defrauded funds before the money exits the financial system.
The final stage is the Money Restoration Module (MRM), through which funds frozen through the CFCFRMS are returned to victims. The government describes the MRM portal as a standardised online mechanism for applying for restoration of money.
The Centre has also pointed to revised RBI instructions issued on June 24, 2026 concerning customer liability in unauthorised electronic banking transactions, as part of its customer-protection measures.
The figures nevertheless underline the continuing challenge: while the reported number of fraud cases nationally fell sharply in 2025-26, the financial exposure increased to nearly Rs 48,000 crore, with advances-related frauds accounting for the bulk of the amount. In Jammu and Kashmir, the number of cases also fell, but the amount involved more than doubled in a single year to Rs 193.49 crore, while recorded recovery remained at Rs 6.92 crore.
