"When Banks Betray the People": Why India’s Middle Class Is Losing Faith in Nationalised Banks

🧾 Caption That Says It All:
“Give me loan and leave me alone” — the new motto of public banks that woo corporates, ignore savers, and quietly crush the backbone of India’s middle class.


That’s a familiar rant now. India's middle class is rapidly losing faith in nationalised banks, where returns are meagre, service is robotic, and the only thing that grows... is pressure to borrow.

🏦 The Shift: From People's Banks to Corporate Clubs
Gone are the days when PSU banks were temples of trust. Today You’re invisible as a saver, You’re valuable only as a borrower

And you’re watched—yes, the Finance Ministry has its eye on your savings

“They don't give us interest worth mentioning. But try withdrawing ₹10 lakh suddenly, and they want to know everything from your Aadhaar to your motive,” says Rajeev, a retired banker in Pune.

🧿 Big Brother: Finance Ministry's Eye on Middle-Class Saving While corporates get tax waivers and restructuring deals, middle-class citizens face: TDS on interest above ?

New compliance rules for withdrawals, deposits, even PPF use
Closer scrutiny of high-value FDs
So basically: Earn less, share more, prove everything.

“I’m not a scammer. I just want to use my own money,” says Poonam, a homemaker flagged for withdrawing ₹5 lakh from her family FD.

🧨 And What Do We Get in Return?
Savings Account Interest: 2.7% – 3.5%
Fixed Deposits: 6% – 7% (barely beating inflation)
Service? Queues, forms, and shrugs
Meanwhile, corporates are handed low-interest loans on a silver platter — even when many default. Their loans get restructured. Your savings get questioned.

🎯 Final Punchline: “Give me loan and leave me alone” isn’t just sarcasm — it’s strategy.

Because the system has made it clear: You’re welcome to borrow
But not welcome to grow
And while the middle class keeps depositing trust, the returns — moral or monetary — just don’t show up.

Here’s a clear comparison of online/cyber fraud in India before and after COVID 19, with case numbers, financial losses, and trends that highlight how rapidly the problem has escalated:

📊 Cyber Fraud Trends: Before vs. After COVID
✅ Pre-COVID Era (FY 2020 and FY 2021) FY 2020–21: ~44–50 crore rupees lost through card/internet frauds in FY 2021, with 14,007 cyber fraud cases reported in 2021

🌧️ Early Pandemic Period (FY 2022)
FY 2022: Number of frauds reported modest (2022–258 cases?), but by FY 2022–23, 6,699 cases in card/internet frauds amounting to ₹277 crore; total bank fraud cases surged to 13,564

⚠️ Post COVID Surge (FY 2023–FY 2024) FY 2023–24:Card/online fraud cases jumped from 6,699 → 29,082, a 425% increase.

Financial loss rose from ₹277 crore → ₹1,457 crore (145% jump).

Cyber fraud incidents (banking transactions) went from 75,800 in FY 2023 → 2,92,800 in FY 2024, and total losses escalated from ₹421.4 crore → ₹2,054.6 crore

First 4 months of 2024: Over 740,000 complaints logged; ₹1,750 crore lost between January–April 2024; daily average ≈7,000 complaints

📈 Continuing Crisis in FY 2025
First 10 months (April 2024–Jan 2025):

2.4 million incidents, ₹4,245 crore lost (67% increase from ₹2,537 crore in FY 2023).

₹4,386 crore recovered via the Citizen Cyberfraud Management System across ~1.3 million complaint


FY 2024–25 (full year): Total fraud value soared to ₹36,014 crore (up from ₹12,230 crore in FY 2023–24), even as cases declined to 23,953.

📋 Summary Table
Period Fraud Cases (Online/Card) Financial Losses (₹ crore)

FY2021 ~14,000 (NCRB data) ~44–50 (card/internet)

FY2022–23 ~6,699 ₹277
FY2023–24 29,082 (↑425%) ₹1,457 (↑145%); total losses ₹13,930

FY2024 (Banking fraud) 2,92,800 ₹2,054.6 (banking transactions)

Apr Jan FY2025 (10 mo.) 2.4 million incidents ₹4,245
FY2024–25 (full year) 23,953 ₹36,014 (loans + digital payments)

🧠 Key Takeaways
Pandemic-era digital push expanded fraud exposure: volumes and losses soared post 2020.

Pre COVID vs now: Fraud cases have grown multi-fold; financial losses have gone from tens of crores to thousands of crores

Digital payment frauds saw dramatic growth, especially in FY 2023–24, before some stabilization in FY 2025

Loan-related frauds (NPAs, large-ticket corporate scams) dominate value in later years, while card/internet frauds dominate in number.

Speedy government response via reporting portals and AI tools helped mitigate losses somewhat, but systemic vulnerability remains high.

🛡️ What Changed Post COVID
Explosion of digital transactions, especially UPI and internet banking, created fertile ground for phishing, fake apps, and identity fraud.

Middle-class savers and loan-seekers became prime targets, particularly through WhatsApp scams, fake investment apps, and coercive digital arrest scams.

Regulatory bodies responded: launch of National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud System, DigiKavach, and bank domain safeguards from RBI.

Banking Interest ?

"Governments, Be Middle-Class Friendly — We’re the Backbone, Not the Bystanders!"