Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on November 19 told lawmakers that the country's state-run banks have reported frauds worth Rs 95,760 crore ($13.34 billion) in the first six months of FY20 ending March, news agency Reuters reported.

Between April and September this year, as many as 5,743 cases of fraud were reported.

"Government has taken comprehensive measures to curb the incidence of fraud in banks," FM Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha.

The measures included the freezing of 3,38,000 bank accounts of inoperative companies in the last two financial years in addition to the enactment of a law with a provision to confiscate the property of economic offenders, Reuters reported.

Going by the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) annual report for FY19 released earlier this year, cases of frauds reported by banks went up by 15 percent on a year-on-year basis from 2018-19.

As per the report, the sector reported 6,801 frauds cases which amounted to a loss of Rs 71,542.93 crore in FY19. This was higher than the 5,916 cases reported in FY18, which caused a loss of Rs 41,167.04 crore in FY18.

Public sector banks, which constitute the largest market share in bank lending, accounted for the bulk of frauds reported in 2018-19, according to the central bank's report.

(With inputs from Reuters)