Security Trends South Asia » India Terrorism » Preparedness to prevent smuggling of fake currency

PIB Press Release

Feb 26, 2016 

Preparedness to prevent smuggling of fake currency into the country

To prevent the smuggling of FICN into the country, multiple steps have been taken by the Government as under :-

(i) The Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home Affairs, Reserve Bank of India, Security and Intelligence Agencies to the Centre and States are working in tandem to thwart the illegal activities related to FICNs. One Special FICN Co- ordination (FCORD) Group has been formed by the MHA to share intelligence/information among the different Security Agencies of State/Centre to counter the problem of circulation of Fake currency notes in the country. The CBI and National Investigation Agency are the Central Agencies for investigation of FICN cases. The Government has also constituted a Terror Funding & Fake Currency Cell (TFFC) in NIA to investigate Terror Funding and Fake currency cases.

(ii) The legal regime has been strengthened by amendments in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act, 1967 (UAPA) wherein damage to the monetary stability of India by way of production or smuggling or circulation of High Quality Fake Indian Paper currency, coin or any other material has been declared as a “Terrorist” act.

(iii) A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed between India and Bangladesh to prevent and counter smuggling and circulation of Fake Currency Notes. The objective of this MOU is to promote bilateral cooperation in the field of preventing and combating, production, smuggling and circulation of fake currency notes, taking into account the applicable laws and legal provisions of the two countries.

(iv) The RBI conducts awareness programmes to make the public aware of the features of Indian Bank notes and to identify genuine Indian bank notes. The RBI regularly conducts training programmes on detection of counterfeit notes for employees/officers of banks and other organizations handling large amount of cash.

To prevent smuggling of fake currency notes in India, staff posted at airports, Railway Stations and border posts have been sensitized from time to time, which has resulted in significant hauls of FICN in these locations.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary in a written reply to a question by Dr. Kanwar Deep Singh in the Rajya Sabha today.