2,000 denomination to account for 60 per cent of 20.39 crore fake notes seized in 2021: NCRB
The Crime in India report compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that 60 percent of the 20.39 crore worth of counterfeit money seized in 2021 was in Rs 2,000 notes. Of the fake Indian currency notes, Rs 12.18 crore were Rs 2,000 denomination notes.
In 2016, the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were scrapped by the government. 52 Counterfeit Indian Currency Notes (FICN) Exercise Preliminary. One of the objectives was NCRB data shows that after 2016, seizure of fake currency has increased.
In 2016, Rs 15.92 crore of fake currency was seized, while the number of seizures in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 was Rs 28.10 crore, Rs 17.95 crore, Rs 25.39 crore and Rs 92.1 crore respectively. In 2015, before demonetisation, fake currency worth 15.48 crore was seized. The major increase in 2020 was due to the seizure of dummy money issued from Children's Bank of India.
On June 10, 2020, the police recovered Rs 82.8 crore worth of fake notes from a house in Pune, including around Rs 43 crore worth of Rs 2,000 notes. Six people, including an army officer, were arrested in this crime. The police found that the accused were duping customers by slipping dummy money while exchanging dollar bills for rupees. The 2021 report says that 6.6 crore fake notes of Rs 500 denomination and Rs 45 lakh worth of Rs 200 notes were found respectively. India has in the past accused Pakistan's ISI of printing high-quality fake Indian currency notes and sending them to the Indian market.
The highest recovery of Rs 2,000 fake notes was in Tamil Nadu at Rs 5 crore. Subsequently, Rs 1.8 crore was recovered in Kerala and Rs 1 crore in Andhra Pradesh. The Finance Ministry informed Parliament on August 8 that the value of counterfeit currency in the banking system has declined from Rs 43.47 crore in 2016-17 to around Rs 8.26 crore in 2021-22. The Home Ministry had earlier set up a Terror Funding and Fake Currency Cell in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to centrally investigate terror funding and fake currency cases. The government has also set up the FICŃ Coordination Group to share intelligence with security agencies of the states and the Centre.
25-Jun-2025