IndusInd board suspects staff involvement in fraud, asks bank to report to investigative agencies

New Delhi: IndusInd Bank board suspects involvement of certain employees in the derivatives, microfinance and balance sheet "fraud" and directed the bank to report the matter to investigative agencies and regulatory authorities.

The bank board met on Wednesday to approve the financial results for the March quarter and for 2024-25 fiscal.

In a regulatory filing, IndusInd Bank said based on review of internal audit reports as well as external professional firm, its board "suspects the occurrence of fraud against the Bank" and the involvement therein of certain employees having a significant role in the accounting and financial reporting of the Bank.

"Accordingly, the Board has directed necessary steps be taken under applicable law (including reporting to regulatory authorities and investigative agencies) and to also fix accountability of all persons responsible for these lapses," it said.

The Bank has appropriately accounted for and reflected the impact of all discrepancies identified in these reports while finalising the financial results for the quarter/twelve months ended March 31, 2025, IndusInd added.

In March, the private sector bank had reported accounting lapses in the derivative portfolio which were estimated to have an adverse impact of approximately 2.35 per cent of the bank's net worth as of December 2024.

Following this, the bank appointed external agency PwC to assess the impact on the bank's balance sheet, lapses at various levels and suggest remedial action.

The agency in its report has quantified the negative impact of the above as of June 30, 2024, at Rs 1,979 crore.

On April 29, CEO Sumant Kathpalia and Deputy CEO Arun Khurana resigned from the bank, following which IndusInd Board appointed a Committee of Executives to oversee the operations of the bank, till a new MD & CEO assumes charge or a period of three months.

Separetely, the bank's internal audit department (IAD) has found "unsubstantiated balances" of Rs 595 crore in "other assets" of its balance sheet.

The IAD also reviewed the bank's microfinance portfolio and found that a cumulative amount of Rs 674 crore was incorrectly recorded as interest over three quarters of FY24-25.