3 min readChandigarhFeb 23, 2026 10:54 AM IST
First published on: Feb 22, 2026 at 06:16 PM IST
IDFC FIRST Bank has reported unauthorised and fraudulent activities allegedly carried out by certain employees at a branch in Chandigarh. The total money still being checked and matched at the branch is about Rs 590 crore. The bank has filed a police complaint, suspended four employees, and is preparing to file additional complaints with law enforcement agencies.
The bank said in a statement that “unauthorised and fraudulent activities have been carried out by certain employees at a particular branch in Chandigarh in a specific set of Haryana state government accounts and potentially involving other individuals/entities/ counterparties”.
In a communication to the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the bank said on Saturday that it had identified an incident involving unauthorised and fraudulent activities by certain employees at the branch and “potentially involving other individuals/entities/counterparties”.
The bank explained that certain “discrepancies were observed in the amount mentioned vis-à-vis the balance in an account after the Bank received a request from a Haryana government department for closure of its account and transfer of funds to another bank”.
“From February 18, 2026, onwards, certain other Haryana Government entities engaged with the Bank with regard to their respective accounts with the Bank. During this process, differences were observed between the balances in the account and the balances as mentioned by the Haryana Government entities holding accounts with the Bank,” the bank informed the NSE.
According to the bank, “the matter is confined to a specific group of government-linked accounts within the Haryana government operated through the branch in Chandigarh and does not extend to other customers of the Chandigarh branch”.
“The aggregate amount under reconciliation across the identified accounts at the above-mentioned Branch is approximately ₹590 crore. The impact may be determined based on receipt of further information, validation of claims, recoveries of any nature, including those made through the process of marking lien on fraudulent beneficiary accounts maintained with other Banks, liabilities of other entities involved in the fraudulent transactions, and the legal recovery process,” added the bank.
Four officials have been suspended pending an investigation. The bank said it would pursue strict disciplinary, civil, and criminal action against the employees and others.
The bank also stated that it was appointing an independent external agency to conduct an independent forensic audit.
Additionally, the bank confirmed that it had sent “recall request to certain beneficiary banks to lien-mark balance in suspicious accounts held in these banks”.
According to IDFC First Bank, the matter is confined to a specific group of government-linked accounts and does not extend to other customers. (File photo) 
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