IDFC First Bank CEO took personal charge after Rs 646 crore fraud

The Story in Brief

IDFC First Bank managing director V. Vaidyanathan flew to Chandigarh within hours of discovering a Rs 646 crore fraud at a single branch in February 2026, he wrote in the bank's annual report released on Sunday. The fraud involved employees at the Chandigarh branch colluding with customer representatives and outsiders to bypass the bank's machine-learning controls. Vaidyanathan said the bank compensated the affected counterparty on the same working day on principle, without waiting for the investigation to conclude.

A forensic review by KPMG, code-named Project Ultra, confirmed the fraud was confined to the Chandigarh branch. The bank has since added centralised oversight and conducted a nationwide verification of balances for all government, trust and society account holders. No other discrepancy was reported. The fraud cost the bank roughly Rs 483 crore in net profit, Vaidyanathan said, reducing full-year profit growth to 7% instead of the 39% it would have been without the incident.