NCRB Crime in India 2024: Fake Currency Seizures at ₹54.61 Cr
Why in the news
Almost ten years after the 8 November 2016 demonetisation, which was pitched as a blow to black money, fake notes and corruption, the NCRB’s Crime in India 2024 report shows counterfeit currency is still turning up in large amounts.
Key facts
- 2024 seizures: ₹54.61 crore of fake notes.
- Total since 2017: ₹638 crore; the peak year was 2022 at ₹382.6 crore.
- New ₹500 notes: fakes found in 2024 were roughly four times the 2016 count; ₹500 is also the most counterfeited denomination.
- Gujarat leads with ₹355.72 crore (over 50%) for 2017-2024, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.
- Bank detection (FY21-FY25): about 11 lakh fake notes worth ₹40.26 crore caught after entering circulation.
- ₹2,000 notes were withdrawn in May 2023 but remain legal tender.
Numbers compared
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Seized in 2024 | ₹54.61 crore |
| Seized in 2022 (peak) | ₹382.6 crore |
| Seized 2017 onwards (cumulative) | ₹638 crore |
| Currency in circulation, Nov 2016 | ₹17.74 lakh crore |
| Currency in circulation, May 2026 | ₹42.12 lakh crore (up 137%) |
About fake currency
- Known as FICN/CICN: illegal copies of legal tender made without RBI sanction, built to imitate security features.
- Misused to destabilise the economy, fund organised crime and finance terrorism.
- Counterfeiters have copied the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series brought in after demonetisation.
Why it persists
- Copying of security features and smuggling across porous borders, including the North-East “Three Frontiers”.
- Heavy cash dependence and distribution networks that exploit MSMEs and rural markets where checking is rare.
- Currency in circulation rose despite digital payments, so demonetisation did not cut cash reliance.
Implications and challenges
- Implications: inflation and instability, terror financing, loss of public trust, and a fiscal burden of redesign, detection and destruction.
- Challenges: a technology race with counterfeiters, fragmented enforcement across states and agencies, low rural awareness, and cash-based high-value deals.
- The ₹2,000 withdrawal was part of the RBI’s Clean Note Policy, driven by low everyday use and long-term counterfeiting risk.
Background
- Demonetisation: on 8 November 2016, ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes lost legal tender status; new ₹500 and ₹2,000 notes followed. The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017 extinguished RBI’s liability retrospectively.
- RBI alone issues notes under the RBI Act, 1934; ₹1 notes come from the Government under the Coinage Act.
- NCRB: attached office of the Ministry of Home Affairs, set up in 1986; publishes Crime in India and ADSI.
- NIA: counter-terror agency under the NIA Act, 2008, which can probe FICN cases tied to terror funding.
- UAPA: a 1967 law used against terror-linked counterfeiting cases.
Exam angle
- Figures: ₹54.61 crore (2024), ₹638 crore (since 2017), ₹382.6 crore (2022).
- Top state: Gujarat; most faked note: ₹500.
- Agencies and laws: NCRB (MHA, 1986), NIA (2008), UAPA (1967), RBI Act 1934.