Shocking! Fake Rs 500, Rs 2,000 notes rise in numbers; even Rs 100, Rs 50 being counterfeited

The introduction of the new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 currency notes has failed to check counterfeiting. There was a sharp rise in the counterfeits of the new denominated currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000, according to the latest figures put out by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its annual report for 2017-18.

Counterfeits in new Rs 500 notes rose sharply to 9,892 pieces in 2017-18 from just 199 pieces in the year-ago period.

In the Rs 2,000 denominated notes, the counterfeit notes rose to 17,929 pieces in 2017-18 from just 638 pieces a year ago.

Counterfeiting was also high in both Rs 100 and Rs 50 notes. Counterfeits in Rs 50 denominated notes jumped 154.3% to 23,447 notes in 2017-18, while there was a 35% rise in Rs 100 rupee notes to 2,39,182 pieces.

The total number of counterfeit notes decreased 31.4% in 2017-18 over the previous year as fakes in the demonetised notes, which are no longer in circulation, came down sharply.

During 2017-18, 522,783 pieces of counterfeit notes were detected in the banking system, of which 63.9% were detected by banks other than Reserve Bank.

“Counterfeit notes detected in banned currencies decreased by 59.7% and 59.6% in the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, respectively, as the same comprised only the residual part of SBN deposits processed during the year 2017-18,” RBI said in its annual report.

The value of banknotes in circulation increased 37.7% over the year to Rs 18,03,700 crore as at end-March 2018.

The volume of banknotes, however, increased 2.1%. In value terms, the share of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 banknotes, which had together accounted for 72.7 % of the total value of banknotes in circulation at end-March 2017, increased to 80.2 % at end-March 2018. “The share of newly introduced Rs 200 banknotes in the total currency management during 2017-18 was geared towards managing the process of remonetisation and processing and reconciliation of specified banknotes (SBNs),” the central bank said in its report.

Out of the total Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) detected, the share of FICNs detected at Reserve Bank was higher at 36.1% as compared to 4.3% during the previous year.

This was because of processing of large volume of specified banknotes withdrawn from circulation.

Source: DNA Money