In FY22, the number of counterfeit ₹500 notes doubled to about 80,000 from the previous year. There was a significant increase in fake ₹2000 notes as well. In the 2016-2020 period, West Bengal recorded the most number of cases related to counterfeit notes, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Assam. In 2020, less than 50% of such cases were chargesheeted by the police while over 75% of cases were pending investigation. Moreover, only around 30% of cases ended in conviction while around 98% of cases were pending in the courts.
Denomination wise
The chart shows the number of counterfeit notes detected by banks/RBI across denominations. The number of fake ₹500 notes rose twofold while ₹2000 counterfeit notes also recorded a significant uptick. Hover over the chart to find the exact figure.
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State wise cases
The map shows the number of cases registered for counterfeiting* between 2016 and 2020. West Bengal registered the highest number of cases (close to 1,000) followed by Uttar Pradesh and Assam
High pendency
The chart shows the number of counterfeiting cases pending investigation at the end of the year (left axis), the pendency rate, and the chargesheeting rate (right axis). Police pendency rate refers to the cases pending investigation at the end of a year as a % of cases that are up for investigation at the start of the year. Chargesheeting rate refers to the cases chargesheeted as a % of cases reported in the year. Over 76% of cases were pending investigation while only 50% were chargesheeted in 2020
Poor conviction
The chart shows the number of cases pending trial at the end of the year (right axis), the conviction rate, and the court pendency rate (left axis). Conviction rate refers to the cases ending in conviction as a % of the cases for which the trial was completed in the year. Court pendency rate refers to the cases pending trial at the end of the year as a % of cases that were up for trial at the start of the year. Only 30% cases ended in conviction while the court pendency rate surged to 98%
*Includes coins, government stamp, seal or mark, and currency or bank notes. Currency forms a big chunk of cases
Source: RBI, NCRB
Also read: Smuggling fake notes? Been there, done that
