In view of the increasing number of fraud cases, the Credit Information Bureau of India (CIBIL) and 10 large commercial banks have joined hands to fight frauds. Together they will start a pilot project in June for collecting information on frauds, building ground to create a database from 2009-10.

Presently, banks submit information on frauds to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on a regular basis, however, there is no inter-bank interaction. Senior bankers feel that sharing information among themselves will help them to be alert and protect them from being duped by fraudsters. It would also help banks in taking precautions against similar kinds of fraudsters.

CIBIL and Trans Union in cooperation with 10 banks are expected to execute the project in three phases. The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has considered flagging off the project on a pilot basis.

After assessing the feedback from the pilot project, the tentative plan is to be ready to run the project for the banking industry from the next year, an IBA official said.

The first phase will involve building a database on an agreeable format approved by banks and data collection could span over six months.