3-fold rise in counterfeit notes since 2007-08: RBI

By Sneha Shah

The number and value of all counterfeit notes detected in 2008-09 rose three times from the previous year, says the annual report released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). But it is only a tip of the iceberg, because these detections do not include what police and other law enforcement agencies in India have seized across the country.

Going by RBI data, the menace of the fake currency notes is staring hard in the face of Indian economy. The value of the counterfeit notes – detected by banking channels, tripled to Rs 15.57 crore in 2008-09, from Rs 5.49 crore in 2007-08, says RBI. If the pieces of counterfeit notes detected in 2007-08 were 1,95,811, it soared to 3,98,111 pieces in 2008-09. These numbers, says the report, are arrived at from the cases that are detected only by the banking channels — that is, if some banks have come across counterfeit notes in their branches or at their automated teller machines (ATMs).

A large number of fake notes that find their way to India through the porous borders around Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan go undetected. “We shouldn’t be surprised if a farmer in Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh or some peasant in West Bengal is paying for his local rations through these notes,” said a senior technology officer, who also investigates online frauds and counterfeiting at a private sector bank, who preferred to remain anonymous.

According to the 2007 report of the National Crime Records Bureau, the agency that collates crime data related to various offences, 2,204 such cases were reported in 2007. Between January and August 2008, 1,170 cases had been registered across the country in connection with fake currency. Bogus notes with a face value of Rs 3.63 crore had been seized. All these put together, the number of counterfeit notes will be far higher than what the RBI’s annual report claims India has — eight in every million notes. Banking industry is also trying to grapple with smart fraudsters. The number of frauds in the banking sector has gone up to 23,914 in 2008-09 from 21,247 a year before.

link

HOME