While the total number of counterfeit notes detected by the banking system has come down to 4.98 lakh pieces in 2012-13 from 5.21 lakh pieces in 2011-12, the detection in the denomination of Rs 1,000 grew by over 18% in the period, clearly indicating that counterfeiters are increasingly pushing fake notes of higher denominations into the Indian market.
The trend from RBI?s annual report 2012-13 indicates that circulation of fake notes in the Rs 50, Rs 100 and Rs 500 denominations has been coming down, while that of Rs 10 and Rs 20 ones has been going up.
Detection of counterfeit Rs 500 and Rs 100 notes decreased by 6.8% and 12.3%, respectively, in 2012-13 as compared with the previous year. These fake notes exclude the counterfeit notes seized by Indian security forces and other government agencies.
Most of the counterfeit notes have been detected at the bank branches by note sorting machines. Also, of the 23,093 counterfeit notes detected by the central bank in 2012-13, around 79% were detected in the soiled note remittances by banks and the rest were tendered over the RBI counters. In 2012-13, the central bank had spent R136 crore more on security printing vis-a-vis 2011-12 because of an increase in the supply of banknotes during the year.
