meIt started as a routine government exercise. In mid-January, officials of Haryana’s Department of Finance and Accounts (DTA) had written to IDFC First Bank’s Chandigarh branch, requesting it to close several long-term accounts and transfer the balances to the government’s Axis Bank account. As part of its standard reconciliation practice ahead of the end of the financial year, DTA compared banks’ balance checks with the government’s Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) figures. Those figures have not been compiled. Deposits reflected in government ledgers were missing from bank statements.