It didn't take long for fake notes of 2,000 rupees to start circulating after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation in November 2016, with one of its stated aims being to kill counterfeit currency.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) latest report released on 30 November, a total of 2,272 fake notes of Rs 2,000 denomination were seized in 2016. Since the Rs 2,000 note along with the new Rs 500 currency was introduced only after 8 November 2016, it means that those counterfeiting the notes not long after demonetisation.
Fake Note Seizure
In just 53 days between 8 November and 31 December last year, police and other government agencies seized 2,272 fake Rs 2,000 notes.
The maximum number of these Rs 2,000 fake notes were seized in Gujarat, followed by Punjab, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Three fake notes were seized in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Haryana each. Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala accounted for two fake notes each. One such note was seized in Manipur as well as in Odisha.
The Rs 2,000 notes were part of the 281,839 fake notes of various denominations recovered from different locations across India.
When PM Modi announced the note ban, he said it was being done to end black money, counter terror financing and do away with counterfeit currency.
Among other fakes, 82,494 notes of Rs 1,000 and 132,227 of Rs 500 denomination were also seized last year along with 59,713 notes of Rs 100 and 2,137 notes of Rs 50, said the annual publication of NCRB released by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
In a number of raids across the country, police forces, the Income Tax department and other government agencies also recovered 184 fake notes of Rs 20, at least 615 notes and coins of Rs 10 and 2,001 notes of Rs 5.
Surprisingly, 196 fake coins of rupee 1 were also seized between January to 31 December 2016
According to the data, the face value of the total fake notes found in 2016 is Rs 1,01,222,821.
In terms of value of maximum fake notes, Delhi topped the list, followed by Gujarat, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Assam, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.
Among all the states and union territories, Goa accounted for just 21 fake notes having a face value of Rs 17,000.
No fake note was recovered from Chhattisgarh, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu as well as Lakshadweep.
According to the NCRB data, a total of 1,172 FIRs were registered and 1107 people were arrested for their involvement in the illegal trade.
(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT to find #PollutionKaSolution. Send in your suggestions to fit@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)