Bureau Prayagraj- A major case of fraud of Rs 590 crore has come to light in the Chandigarh branch of private sector IDFC First Bank. This one incident has not only hurt the reputation of the bank but also caused huge losses to the investors while causing an earthquake in the stock market.
The fraud, which took place at a Chandigarh branch of IDFC First Bank, was primarily restricted to a group of accounts belonging to the Haryana state government. On February 18, 2026, Haryana government institutions had detected irregularities in the actual balance of their accounts.
According to the bank, some employees of the branch have carried out this incident in collusion with outsiders. These people manually transferred crores of rupees outside the bank to the accounts of other beneficiaries using fake checks and forged authorization letters.
As a precautionary measure, the bank has suspended four suspect officials and lodged a police complaint. KPMG has been appointed as independent forensic auditor to get to the bottom of the matter. After this incident, Haryana Government has taken strict action and de-empaneled IDFC Bank (and AU Small Finance Bank) and directed its departments to close the accounts.
While doing damage control, the bank’s MD and CEO V Vaidyanathan has clarified that this is not a ‘systemic failure’ but an isolated incident involving one branch and one customer group.
He said that the bank had necessary controls in place like ‘maker, checker and authorizer’ for clearing cheques, but these rules were broken due to the criminal collusion of employees and external third-parties. The CEO has assured investors that the bank has adequate capital and profitability is better due to falling credit costs, hence this financial impact of Rs 590 crore will be manageable for the bank. For recovery, the bank has also sent a request to other banks to freeze the balance lying in doubtful accounts.
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