RBI gears up to face fake currency challenge

RBI gears up to face fake currency challenge
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NAGPUR, FEBRUARY 22: A novel seminar on `Detection of counterfeit currency notes' was conducted by authorities of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at the office of the Divisional Railway Manager, Central Railway, here recently.

The event assumed significance against the backdrop of a rising concern over fake currency notes flushing the Indian markets allegedly at the behest of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) to derail the nation's economy.

Barely a couple of days back, 91 fake notes including 16 of Rs 500, 64 of Rs 100 and 10 of Rs 10 denominations, were detected at the RBI here. The detection, ironically, came through a couple of days after the seminar at the DRM office and all the RBI staffers were since put on an alert to ensure that no more fake notes sneak into the bank treasury through its counters.

Last week, the Customs (Preventive) authorities at Amritsar seized fake Indian currency worth Rs 1 lakh from a passenger of the Samjhauta Express coming from Pakistan.

A 50-year-old man, hailing from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, was held in this connection as the notes were found during a routine check at the Attari railway station by the custom authorities. This was preceded by another huge haul of couterfeit currency, the week before, also from a person coming from Pakistan by rail.

That the RBI and senior railway officials had to come together to apprise the railway staffers about the methods to detect counterfeit currency, provides a sufficient pointer to the concern over the vulnerability of the railways as a potential source of inflow. Apparently, the railway higher ups have taken a serious cognisance of the developments over the past fortnight.

Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (CR) P K Agrawal presided over the seminar, conducted in two sessions, each of as many hours in duration. Officials of the RBI A N Wadnerkar and S G Patrikar presented a slide show with a thorough appraisal of the difference between genuine and fake notes of various denomination including Rs 500 and Rs 100. The participants were also apprised of the deficiencies in counterfeit currency notes. The senior distribution officer of Scenic Electronic Corporation, Prashant Chandatre, presented a demonstration on inspection of currency notes.

Clerical staffers from the railway booking office, reservation office, parcel division, goods department and all those railway units where monetary transactions are carried out, attended the event in large number.

Earlier, Public Relations Officer (CR) Suhas Lohkare welcomed the guests on behalf of the organisers and made the introductory remarks. Agrawal acknowledged the efforts of the RBI authorities as well as the participatingrailway staffers for making the event a success. Senior railway officials from the DRM office were present.>