RBI report: Fake notes of Rs.500 doubled and Rs.2000 increased to 54.16% in 2021-22

On Friday RBI released its annual report 2021-22, a statutory report of its central board of directors for the period April 2021-March 2022.

As per the RBI report, counterfeit notes of all denominations increased in the financial year 2021-22. The RBI detected 101.9 per cent more fake notes of Rs. 500 denomination and 54.16 per cent more fake notes of Rs 2,000 denomination as compared to the previous year.  

“Compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 16.4 per cent, 16.5 per cent, 11.7 per cent, 101.9 per cent, and 54.6 per cent in the counterfeit notes detected in the denominations of Rs10, Rs 20, Rs 200, Rs 500 (new design) and Rs 2000, respectively. The counterfeit notes detected in the denominations of Rs 50 and Rs100 declined by 28.7 per cent and 16.7 per cent, respectively”, the report said.

During 2021-22, out of the total Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) detected in the banking sector, 6.9 per cent were detected at the Reserve Bank and 93.1 per cent at other banks, it said.

The Government had cited flushing out black money and the elimination of fake currency notes as the reason for the demonetization exercise in 2016.

Opposition trains guns on central Government:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and TMC MP Derek O’Brien attacked the Centre over its 2016 demonetisation move after the latest RBI report revealed a huge spike in counterfeit notes in the country. Reacting to the fresh data submitted by RBI, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “The only unfortunate success of demonetisation was the TORPEDOING of India’s economy.

Pointing to data on fake currency notes in Reserve Bank of India’s annual report, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his claim that demonetisation would push digital transactions and wipe out fake currency. Mr. O’Brien shared a table graphic that showed that the number of fake ₹ 500 notes doubled between this year and the last. During the same period, the number of fake ₹ 2,000 notes jumped by 54 per cent.

According to the report, the total expenditure incurred on security printing from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, was Rs.4,984.8 crore as against Rs.4,012.1 crore in the previous year (July 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021).