Fakes Yes, But Mere Photocopies

Government agencies play a cat-and-mouse game with counterfeiters to keep out fake notes.

- Bhavna Vij-Aurora

LESS than 20 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes and introduced the new purplepink notes, Telangana police recovered fake Rs 2,000 notes of a total face value of Rs 2.29 lakh. Though they were all crude photocopies, the intelligence agencies were alerted that counterfeiters, largely from across the border, would not give up.

Including the first seizure from Rangareddy district in Telangana, security agencies have so far made 19 recoveries from different parts of the country. Worryingly, the quality of fake notes is only getting better. From amateurish attempts of photocopying the notes to the improved version, where the counterfeiters have managed to copy 11 out of 17 security features, the quality of fake notes, or FICN (Fake Indian Currency Notes) as they are called, seem to have improved. Even the quantity of fake notes that is finding its way into India has been steadily going up.

From a few thousands to lakhs and then to Rs 4 crore—the latest recovery from Rajkot in Gujarat on March 3—the amount of fake notes being smuggled into India has been rising. Though the enforcement and intelligence agencies are on a high alert, they say there is no need to ring the alarm bells—not yet. Some features—the Ashoka Pillar emblem, ‘Rs 2000’ with the rupee symbol, Swachch Bharat logo, Mangalyaan image and the denomination in Devanagari numerals—may have been copied, but investigators say that can be done easily with a high-quality scanner and printer, while high-end security features are intact and not likely to be breached.