There is a 317% rise in counterfeit ₹500 notes over the last five years reported by the Ministry of Finance on Monday, November 25.
Surge in Circulation Of Fake Currency
This data was presented in Parliament which further revealed that fake ₹500 notes increased from 21,865 million pieces (mpcs) in FY19 to 91,110 mpcs in FY23.
Although, they have reported a 15% decline to 85,711 mpcs which was observed in FY24.
Interestingly, there was a steepest annual jump in counterfeit ₹500 notes during FY22 doubling from 39,453 mpcs in FY21 to 79,669 mpcs, marking a spike of 102%.
During FY24, counterfeit ₹2000 notes also saw a sharp rise of 166% rising from 9,806 mpcs in FY23 to 26,035 mpcs.
Drop in Fake Currency
It is noteworthy here that the government reported an overall 30% drop in fake currency across all denominations, from 3,17,384 mpcs in FY19 to 2,22,639 mpcs in FY24, despite these increases.
It appears that the share of ₹500 denomination currency notes in overall currency has jumped to 86.5% at the end of March 2024, against 77.1% in the year-ago period, as informed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during May this year.
The surge primarily attributed to the withdrawal of the ₹2,000 denomination notes announced in May 2023 as mentioned in the central bank’s annual report.
Moving ahead, the share of this
denomination has reduced to 0.2% from 10.8% in the year-ago period.
If we consider the volume, the ₹500 denomination was the highest at 5.16 lakh notes.
At the same time, ₹10 denomination came a distant second at 2.49 lakh as of March 31, 2024, according to the data shared in an annual report.
When it comes to the value and volume of bank notes in circulation, it has increased by 3.9% and 7.8%, respectively, in FY24.
Interstingly, it was 7.8% and 4.4%, respectively, during the previous fiscal year, the report said.
