New notes to put spanner in Pak’s counterfeiting machine

Intelligence agencies that have vetted the new Rs2,000 and Rs500 notes assert that their security features will be next to impossible to replicate for Pakistan and organised criminal networks for some time to come.

A top government official, without going into the details, told The Times of India that the Research and Analysis Wing, the Intelligence Bureau and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence examined the features on the notes being secretly printed for the past six months. The official refused to reveal the number of security features on the notes but said they were difficult to forge.

The intelligence community had earlier informed the government and the Reserve Bank of India that Pakistan had a dedicated mint in Peshawar where only fake Indian currency notes, mostly in Rs500 and Rs1,000 denominations, were being printed.

 Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, which oversees the mint, uses organised networks including those run by its clients like Dawood Ibrahim, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and international criminal networks to push fake currency into India.

In a report to the government and RBI, intelligence agencies had claimed a few years ago that Pakistan's machinery had achieved "zero-error counterfeit capability" in printing fake Indian notes.

According to an estimate, Rs70 crore worth of fake notes are pushed every year by Pakistan into the Indian economy, which was used as terror funds and to spearhead disturbances.

Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said the government move would lead to closure of fake currency "press" in Pakistan.