Even Rs 2000 note isn't foolproof enough; fake note found in Karnataka

Just when you thought that the newly introduced Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes can’t be counterfeited because of extra ‘high security’ features, a farmer in Karnataka has received a fake note already.

Ashok, a farmer in Chikkamagaluru was selling onions in the market when an unknown man handed him over Rs 2000 note after a purchase. Afterwards Ashok showed the note to his friends, who discovered that the note is a mere photocopy of the original note, trimmed at the edges with scissor.

"It was a photocopy of the original notes... anybody can notice it easily. The person was given the copy by a man in APMC market," Superintendent of Police K. Annamalai said.

The new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes that Central Bank RBI is issuing starting from Friday are being called "high security" notes and have several new features to make them harder to fake than the 500 and 1,000 rupee notes that were scrapped from Tuesday midnight.

The new 2,000 rupee note, said the Reserve Bank or RBI in a statement, will include several features like a see-through register with the denominational numeral 2,000 which can be seen when the note is held up against light.

There will also be a latent image with the denominational numeral 2,000, which can be seen when the bank note is held at a 45 degree angle at the eye level.

The note will also have a colour-shifting windowed security thread with the inscription 'भारत', RBI and 2,000. The colour of the thread will change from green to blue when the note is tilted.

For the visually-impaired, there will a raised print of Mahatma Gandhi's portrait, the Ashoka Pillar emblem, bleed lines and identity marks.

The RBI said the 2,000 rupees notes have a motif of the Mangalayan, India's Mars mission and the base colour is magenta.