It may be recalled that on March 10, IndusInd Bank had reported accounting discrepancy in its forex derivatives portfolio and admitted—after being asked by the RBI to do so—that the accounting problem in this particular book was persisting for the past several years. It also said the impact of this on the bank’s net worth would be around 2.35% of the net worth of Rs 64,000 crore as of December 2024.
Though the bank did not quantify the loss, it has been assumed that the red hole will be worth around Rs 2,100 crore. The RBI asked the bank to book the losses in the March quarter itself and also appoint an external agency to do an audit, towards which the Hinduja group owned bank appointed PwC to do the audit and also appointed another agency for a forensic audit.
The comments come amid growing scrutiny of the bank, though the RBI has said such isolated incidents should not overshadow the resilience of the banking system.
The New India Cooperative Bank crisis erupted in February 2025, with a Rs 122-crore embezzlement issue leading to arrests, property attachments, and severe restrictions by the RBI including curbs on withdrawals by account holders.
“Our approach is to minimise the frequency and impact of such events through a combination of regulatory oversight, supervision, and collaboration with banks’ internal mechanisms,” said Malhotra.
“We have various tools, regulations, supervision, and banks themselves have multiple layers: their business units, compliance teams, and audits. We all need to work together to continuously improve the system,” he added.