Gujarat Tops States With Fake Currency Seizures

NEW DELHI: Gujarat tops the list of five Indian states that are considered the “safest” for circulating counterfeit currency notes – allegedly pushed in by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency – according to the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Of the 30,354,604 counterfeit notes seized across the country, 87, 47,820 were recovered from Gujarat in 2014.

Chhattisgarh followed close on the heels with the seizure of 7,386,900 fake notes, while Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana saw recoveries of 5,437,600, 3,249,000 and 1,696,850 counterfeit notes.

Police officers monitoring the circulation of fake notes suspect that the ISI is pushing such notes in India which have a greater resemblance to India’s high denomination 1, 000 and 500 notes.

The officers said that they have been noticing for the past few months that differences between genuine and counterfeit notes were reducing and that around five such differences have actually disappeared.

“The paper being used to make the fake notes is now more similar. The stiffness is almost the same. The security thread (in the right half) on fake notes also resembles that on the genuine currency.

“The watermark (the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi in light and shade) has also been nearly matched,” an officer, who did not want to be named, told the media.

“The identification mark on the left of the note looks quite similar in counterfeit and genuine notes. The optical variable ink also looks similar,” he added.

Of the 30,354,604 counterfeit notes seized across the country, those in the 1,000 denomination was the highest at 19,895,000.

The recovery of notes in the 500, 100 and 50 denominations across India was 9, 490,500; 938,800 and 25,000.

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