Home Ministry in a tizzy over fake currency notes

The Union Home Ministry wants better coordination among the Ministries of Finance and External Affairs, security agencies and RBI to tackle the problem.

Rattled by reports of recovery of fake currency notes, which could have linkages with terror outfits, the Union Home Ministry wants better coordination among the Ministries of Finance and External Affairs, security agencies and RBI to tackle the problem.

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Seizures of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) from time to time show that most of the security features in various denominations have been replicated.

This has rung alarm bells in the Home Ministry, which apprehends that the counterfeit notes recovered recently could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Against this backdrop, Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta chaired a high-level meeting recently to review steps being taken to deal with the menace and favoured setting up of a nodal cell in all states.

A senior Home Ministry official said there was a need to streamline various processes related to detection and seizure of fake currency notes, reporting, analysis, information sharing, monitoring, registration and investigation of cases.

Besides the latest recovery of fake notes of the face value of Rs 1.5 crore from an SBI branch at Dumariyaganj in Uttar Pradesh, some high-value seizures made in the recent past were in Hyderabad, Kuala Lumpur and Kathmandu.

These notes are smuggled from the UAE, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh and Nepal, both having highly porous borders, sources said.