The Rs 2,000 note was neither the most counterfeited note seized in the country nor the most seized genuine note in law-enforcement raids in 2021, the last year for which official figures are available. In fact, the Rs 500 currency note scores much higher on this count.
Surprised! That is the fact if one goes by the data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2021, the latest data available as of date. It may be useful to keep this context on the back of your mind while heading to the bank from May 23 to exchange a Rs 2,000 currency note after the government giving a four-month window to citizens to do so as it is discontinuing the note.
What numbers reveal
Sample this: out of 6.18 lakh original currency notes seized in 2021, only 24,239 of them were Rs 2,000 notes. The hoarders seemed to prefer the Rs 500 original currency notes as over 2.51 lakh notes of Rs 500 denomination were found in such raids. In terms of value, the Rs 2,000 notes accounted for Rs 4.84 crore in seizures while Rs 500 notes accounted for thrice that number at Rs 12.58 crore in value.
Now, let’s look at the seizures of counterfeit currency notes. As per the NCRB data, out of 3.1 crore total fake currency notes seized in the country in 2021, a total of 60,915 notes were of Rs 2,000 denomination while Rs 500 counterfeit notes were almost double in number at 1.32 lakh. In terms of value, the Rs 2,000 fake currency notes accounted for Rs 12.18 crore out of total Rs 20.30 crore-worth seizures, nearly 60 per cent of the value of the counterfeit note seizures.
No need to panic, says government
Government officials feel that a majority of the common people, especially in rural areas, may not have even a single Rs 2,000 banknote with them at present. Advising against any panic, an official said the government does not anticipate wide ramifications of the decision as it feels most people, especially in rural India, have been mostly dealing with the Rs 500, Rs 200, or Rs 100 currency notes.
“This is thanks to the arrival of digital payments and especially UPI in the last six years which means that a wide majority of common people may not have even a single Rs 2,000 note at home,” an official said.
“It has also been observed that this denomination is not commonly used for transactions,” the RBI said. Given an over four-month window, there is no urgency to exchange or deposit a Rs 2,000 note at the bank, an official said.
This decision could be discreetly aimed at the super-rich who may have hoarded the Rs 2,000 notes in black money and have escaped the law’s hands so far. The RBI said that the total value of Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation stands at Rs 3.62 lakh crore as on March 31, 2023, constituting only 10.8 per cent of notes in circulation.
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