Gujarat has topped the list of the most number of high denomination currency fake notes in the last four years. In 2019, as many as 14,494 counterfeit notes of Rs 2,000, and 5,558 counterfeit notes of Rs 500 were held in Gujarat, according to the data provided by G Kishan Reddy, MoS, Ministry of Home Affairs, in a reply to a question in Lok Sabha. During 2016-2019, the state has witnessed fake Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 11.4 crore and fake Rs 500 notes worth Rs 74.38 lakh. This is the highest amount of counterfeit notes held in any bordering states of the country.

West Bengal has followed Gujarat in the most number of counterfeit notes of the high denomination during this period. Fake notes of Rs 2,000 worth Rs 9.4 crore and fake notes of Rs 500 worth Rs 46 lakh were caught in West Bengal during 2016-2019. Production, smuggling, or circulation of fake notes has an adverse effect on the monetary stability of the country, the government said.

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In the year 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced demonetisation with one of its aim to curb the circulation of fake notes in the system. However, the parliament papers showed that the number of fake notes of Rs 2,000 rose from 27,022 in 2018 to 38,151 in 2019 and the number of fake notes of Rs 500 surged from 5,964 in 2018 to 8,478  in 2019 across all the bordering states.

Meanwhile, the government said that a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between India and Bangladesh to prevent, and counter-smuggling and circulation of fake currency notes. Also, the security at the international borders has been strengthened by using new surveillance technology, deploying additional manpower for round the clock surveillance, establishing observation posts along the international border, erection of border fencing, and intensive patrolling.