IDFC First Bank stock price today: Shares of IDFC First Bank tumbled on Monday, hitting the 20% lower circuit at Rs 66.85 on the BSE. This sharp selling comes after the bank disclosed a Rs 590 crore fraud at its Chandigarh branch.Around 10:25 am, IDFC First Bank Ltd was trading down 18.84% or 15.73 points to 69.10 on the NSE. On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the share was down 16.50% or 13 points to 69.77. Meanwhile, stock had ended last week in green, rising 0.64% at Rs 83.51 on the NSE. In an exchange filing, the private sector bank said that the suspected fraud involved certain employees who allegedly carried out unauthorised transactions from accounts associated with the Haryana government. The lender has now suspended four officials believed to be connected to the case while an internal investigation is underway. “The bank will pursue strict disciplinary, civil and criminal action against the employees and other external individuals responsible, in accordance with applicable law,” the bank said, as cited by ET. The lender further added that it has already filed a complaint with the police. The bank has sent recall communications to some beneficiary banks and requested lien marking on balances in accounts flagged as suspicious. It is also moving to appoint an independent external agency to undertake a detailed forensic audit of the episode. The issue surfaced after the Haryana government asked the bank to close its account and transfer the funds to another bank. During the reconciliation process, the lender detected inconsistencies between its recorded balances and the figures reported by the government bodies. The issue came to light when multiple Haryana government entities, from February 18, contacted the bank regarding their accounts, which led to the identification of additional mismatches. The bank emphasised that the irregularities were restricted to a specific group of government-linked accounts operated through the Chandigarh branch and said other customers of the branch remain unaffected.
