New Delhi— Financial experts are urging the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to strengthen regulatory oversight and implement tighter controls following revelations that an ICICI Bank employee fraudulently withdrew over ₹4.5 crore from customer accounts, including fixed deposits.
The employee, identified as Sakshi Gupta, allegedly misused internal banking systems at ICICI’s Shriramnagar branch in Kota, Rajasthan, to siphon funds from 110 customer accounts—many of them belonging to senior citizens. The fraud reportedly spanned three years, from 2020 to 2023.
According to investigators, Gupta prematurely closed fixed deposits without customer consent, activated overdraft facilities, and used digital banking channels to funnel money into accounts linked to her family. She is also accused of investing the stolen funds in the stock market.
The fraud came to light only when a customer visited the branch to inquire about his fixed deposit. ICICI Bank launched an internal probe and filed a police complaint at the Udyog Nagar station in February 2025.
In a statement, the bank said all legitimate customer claims have been resolved and confirmed that no client suffered financial losses as a result of the fraud.
Despite this, the incident has sparked concern over the adequacy of internal controls within private banks. Experts are calling on the RBI to bolster its supervisory mechanisms and adopt technological safeguards such as FD tokenization—where sensitive fixed deposit data is accessible only to the account holder—to prevent misuse by bank employees.
“There needs to be a stronger, tech-driven monitoring framework to catch these activities early,” said one senior financial analyst.
As the RBI evaluates its response, the case has highlighted the urgent need for systemic reforms to protect customer funds and restore trust in India’s banking sector. (Source: IANS)
