Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that recovery of fake notes is not static as members questioned the objectives of the 2016 demonetisation exercise when it was said the security features in the new ₹2,000 notes could not be compromised.
Congress’s Shaktisinh Gohil said that after demonetisation it was said the circulation of fake notes will be completely stopped but there has been a progressive increase in seizure of such notes instead. He quoted the Minister’s written reply which said that in 2016, the number of fake ₹2,000 notes seized was 2,272, while in 2020 it increased to 2,44,834 pieces of notes.
Mr. Rai responded, “The seizures are not static. In 2018, there was a decline in such seizures. High recovery also shows effective action by us. Fake notes are increasingly being seized, sometimes it increases or decreases.” He also blamed Pakistan for the fake notes.
Mr. Rai said 4,67,346 fake notes of ₹2,000; 5,22,381 fake notes of banned ₹1,000 and 2,97,372 fake notes of banned ₹500 were recovered from 2016-20. As many as 2,97,372 fake notes of new ₹500 notes, 43,406 fake notes of ₹200 and 3,43,483 fake notes of ₹100 were also recovered during the said period, he said in a written reply to a question by Samajwadi Party’s Sukhram Singh Yadav.
Shiv Sena’s Anil Desai said that after demonetisation, the government claimed that the security features in new notes could never be compromised.
On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced scarpping of all ₹1,000 and Rs 500 notes. Subsequently, the government had also announced introduction of new Rs 2,000 and ₹500 notes for circulation.