Watch out for fake notes in Ahmedabad

The next time the person at the deposit counter of a bank suspiciously looks at the notes you have handed him or her, don't get annoyed. For, bank employees have reason to be wary. This is because banks in the city have reported fake Indian currency notes (FICN) to the tune of around Rs14 lakh in the last eight months. fficial figures state that 2,730 fake currency notes were deposited in the city banks, most of which were in the 500 denomination, followed by the 1,000 denomination. Details of all these counterfeit notes have been sent to the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) which is currently investigating the source and route through which the currency came. HDFC Bank tops the chart as it reported 1,361 FICNs, of which 880 were in the Rs500 denomination. The total amount of FICNs, according to DCB, debited to HDFC Bank and found out amounts to Rs7.18 lakh. Apart from that, 482 FICNs, including 292 in Rs500 denomination and 73 in Rs1,000 denomination respectively were deposited with the Reserve Bank of India. These deposits were made by the customers as well as banks. Interestingly, a fake Rs10 note was also deposited at RBI, a cop from DCB toldDNA. Axis Bank stands second in the chart with a deposit of 742 different fake currency notes in the last eight months. Of this, 387 notes were in the Rs500 denomination while 129 were in the Rs1000 denomination — all amounting to Rs3.24 lakh. Citibank reported the least number of FICNs. “Only one fake note of Rs1,000 was submitted at Citibank,” a police source said. Sources in the banking sector told DNA that the banks which report high number of FICNs are penalised depending on the total amount of such notes deposited with them.