ICICI reports deposit of Rs 10 cr fake currency notes over several years

Country's largest private sector bank ICICI Bank has lodged an FIR alleging fake currency notes with a face value Rs 10 crore were deposited in its different branches in the past several years.

Regional Head of ICICI Bank Manish Pandey lodged an FIR at Hazratganj police station alleging that fake currency notes of face value Rs 10.77 crore were deposited in different branches between 2006 to 2014 in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, police sources said.

ICICI Bank said: "The police complaint filed by the bank at Hazratganj, Lucknow on April 6, 2014 pertains to the period between February 2006 to March 2013 and is as per the regulatory guidelines".

It said that as per the RBI guidelines, it is required to report and file FIR whenever fake notes are detected. ICICI Bank further said, "It puts into circulation only clean and genuine notes, in line with the RBI's 'clean note' policy."

As per the RBI's master circular on detection and impounding of counterfeit notes, banks are required to monitor the patterns and trends of such detection and bring them to the notice of RBI/police authorities immediately.

The circular further said that in case of detection of counterfeit notes up to 4 pieces in a single transaction, "a consolidated report should be sent by the Nodal Bank Officer to the police authorities or the Nodal Police Station, along with the suspect counterfeit notes, at the end of the month."

In case of detection of counterfeit notes of 5 or more pieces in a single transaction, "the counterfeit notes should be forwarded by the Nodal Bank Officer to the local police authorities or the Nodal Police Station for investigation by filing FIR".

As per the circular, "the progress made by banks in detection and reporting of counterfeit notes to Police, RBI, etc. and problems thereof, should be discussed regularly in the meetings of various State Level Committees viz. State Level Bankers  Committee (SLBC), Standing Committee on Currency Management (SCCM), State Level Security Committee (SLSC), etc."

The data on detection of counterfeit Indian notes at bank branches and treasuries are required to be included in the monthly returns forwarded to the Reserve Bank, it added.