Counterfeit ₹500 Notes See 317% Rise in Five Years, Reports Ministry of Finance

A study from India's Ministry of Finance, which came out on November 25, showed some worrying facts about fake money in the country. Parliament was shown shocking new numbers that show the number of fake ₹500 notes has grown by 317% in the last five years.

There were 21,865 million fake ₹500 notes in the financial year (FY) 2019, but 91,110 million fake ₹500 notes were made in FY23. There is some good news, though: the number of fake ₹500 notes reported went down a little in FY24. In FY24, there were 85,711 fake ₹500 notes, which is about 15% less than in FY23.

But this drop doesn't change the fact that fake money is still on the rise. The number of fake ₹500 notes almost doubled in FY22, which was the year when they rose the most quickly. In FY22, the number of mpcs went from 39,453 in FY21 to 79,669, which is a huge 102% increase. This shows that there has been a sharp rise in faking, especially with high-value bills.

It's interesting that the number of fake ₹2000 notes also went up sharply in FY24. From 9,806 million pieces in FY23 to 26,035 million pieces in FY24, the number of fake ₹2000 notes shot up by an amazing 166%. People are looking for smaller amounts to replace the ₹2000 notes, which is why there are more fake ₹500 notes in circulation. This is because the government decided to take away the ₹2000 notes.

Even though these trends are scary, the study does have one good thing about it. In fact, the number of fake bills of all sizes has gone down by 30%. All together, there were 3,17,384 million pieces of fake money in FY19. By FY24, that number had dropped to 2,22,639 million pieces. In other words, the amount of fake money in circulation has gone down, even though there have been increases in some coins.

One reason there may be more fake ₹500 notes is that this amount is becoming more important to India's economy. The amount of ₹500 notes in circulation has been slowly rising. It was only 77.1% of all money in circulation the year before, but by March 2024, ₹500 notes made up a huge 86.5% of all money in circulation. This likely has something to do with the fact that the government decided to stop printing ₹2000 notes, which made ₹500 notes more common.

India is still having a hard time fighting fake money, and the rise in fake 500 and 2000 rupee notes shows how tough it is. This is especially true since more and more people want these high-value notes. To stop fake money and keep India's cash safe, the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will have to work harder. At the same time, the government will have to keep a close eye on the fake notes that are being used to make sure they don't hurt the business.

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