There is a declining trend in the circulation of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) in the country, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) on July 15, reports Business Standard. "The data as reported by RBI and seizure of Fake Indian Counterfeit Notes (FICN) by state police and other agencies as reported by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveal that there is a declining trend in the circulation of FICN in the country," she said in a written reply.
Sitharaman, however, said West Bengal Police reported that the flow of FICNs continues from the Indo-Bangladesh border, particularly in the Malda area (Malda District of West Bengal). "However, all such FICNs were of low quality i.e. computer generated or manipulated," the Minister noted. She also said after the withdrawal of the legal tender status of INR 1,000 and INR 500 currency notes on November 8, 2016, there have been no reported cases of seizure of High Quality FICNs of INR 2,000 and INR 500 denomination till early 2019. "As such, there does not appear to be any appreciable loss now," she said.