The Rs 500 note appears to be most preferred choice for counterfeiting. This is evident from the figures tabled in the Lok Sabha by the Finance Ministry.
The Ministry informed the House that the cost of printing currency notes in the two Government presses varied.
According to information provided by the Reserve Bank of India, 4.35 lakh fake currency notes were detected during 2010-11. Of this, there were 2.46 lakh pieces of notes with Rs 500 denomination, valued at Rs 12.30 crore.
This information was given by Minister of State of Finance Namo Narayan Meena in a written reply. Fake currency of Rs 500 denomination rose to over three lakh, with a value of over Rs 15 crore, during 2011-12. That year, a total of 5.21 lakh counterfeit notes were detected.
Other than RBI, various banks also detected counterfeit currency. The total number of such pieces was 3.90 lakh in 2010-11, which rose to 4.83 lakh in 2011-12.
The Finance Ministry has claimed that it was working in tandem with the RBI, the Home Ministry, the CBI and various security and intelligence agencies to thwart illegal activities related to fake currency.