Circulation of fake currency notes continues to pose challenge

Tackling the menace of fake currency was one of the stated aims of 2016 demonetisation but official statistics show that circulation of counterfeit notes continue to be a trouble for law enforcement agencies.

According to the Crime in India reports by National Crime Record Bureau from 2016 to 2021, law enforcement agencies have seized fake currency with a face value of Rs 199.54 crore during the five years.

The year 2020 saw the highest seizure at Rs 92.17 crore while the lowest was in 2016 when authorities seized fake notes with a face value of Rs 15.92 crore.

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Last year saw seizure of counterfeit notes of Rs 20.39 crore face value. Similarly in 2017, fake notes with a face value of Rs 28.10 crore, of Rs 17.95 crore in 2018 and Rs 25.39 crore in 2019 were seized.

According to the RBI, the number of counterfeit notes circulated/detected in the banking system in 2021-22 stands at 2,30,971 pieces. It also said more than 90 per cent of counterfeit notes were of low quality and none of the major security features were compromised. Bank note of denomination Rs 500 (old and new notes) has the maximum number of counterfeit notes among the seized fake notes

Recently, senior BJP MP and former Bihar Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had asked the government in Rajya Sabha to gradually phase out Rs 2,000 note introduced after demonetisation, saying there is no logic to continuing with the currency denomination as it only meant black money and hoarding.

According to the latest RBI annual report, the number of fake currency notes with a face value of Rs 500 denomination detected by the banking system more than doubled to 79,669 pieces in 2021-22 over the previous year.

The number of counterfeit notes of 2,000 denomination detected in the system was 13,604 pieces during 2021-22, up 54.6 per cent from the preceding financial year.

Opposition parties had been accusing the government of failing to achieve the stated objectives of demonetisation. They had been arguing that the exercise was misconceived.