Detection is the only prevention

People should learn to identity fake notes; that is half the battle won

Perpetrators sitting in Pakistan devise new techniques every day to develop fake Indian currency notes, particularly of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination.

Seeing this, the Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines to detect fake Indian currency notes.

There are a number of signs that indicate a currency is fake. If some find watermarks that look thick, then the currency is fake. Similarly, one can find a note as fake when one sees imitation security threads that have been drawn or printed on, instead of being incorporated, through the currency note at the time of manufacture.

Spotting them

“Few fake notes have figures that are out of alignment. Smaller or bigger number, inadequate gaps, and different alignment in numbers should be regarded with suspicion,” says a bank officer.

Sometimes, printed lines are broken and ink smudges and sometimes, the lettering used for the Reserve Bank of India is thicker than usual. Fake notes can be easily detected by people, but for that they should be aware about the basics of notes and their specifications.

It is easy to identify a Rs 1,000 note as fake or original. All one has to do is check the following points in the original note.

See-through registration

In the middle of the vertical band at the extreme left is the denominational numeral printed as a floral design. One half of this numeral is printed on the obverse and the other half in reverse in such a way that the two printed portions have a perfectly accurate back-to-back registration, and the numeral appears as one when viewed against light.

Identification mark

A circle (Rs 500 note) and diamond (Rs 1,000 note) with intaglio print, which can be felt by touch, helps the visually impaired to identify the denomination

Watermark

A portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, multi-directional lines and an electrolyte mark showing the denominational numeral appear in this section, and can be viewed better when the note is held against light

Optically variable ink

The colour of the numeral in the centre appears green when the note is held flat, but changes to blue when it is held at an angle.