1,214 currency note sorting machines by June, FM

New Delhi, Mar 14 (UNI) With incidents of fake currencies cropping up in the system, Finance Minister P Chidamabaram today said the government will introduce 1,214 sorting machines by June 2006 and also issue better quality notes.

BJP member Murli Manohar Joshi said fake currencies are destroying the Indian economy.

The Finance Minister stated that there is no need to panic and the actual amount of fake notes is very minimal. For example, there is 1.5 pieces of Rs 100 notes in every million such notes. Similarly 4.5 pieces have been detected of Rs 500 denomination per million.

He said the CBI is also taking steps to curb the influx of fake notes.

BJP member Ravi Shankar Prasad wanted to know how the government was sorting out the fake from the real ones and whether it is based on empirical data. Mr Chidambaram said in India the problem is ''contained and containable.'' The Finance Minister said the assessment is based on the amount detected by sorting machines and CBI cases.

He said new currency note making machines that would produce better quality notes is also in the pipeline.

During 2005-06, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has received complaints of fake currency notes, dispensed through ATMs of ICICI Bank, Karungapally Barnch, and of HDFC Bank, Kolkata.

The FM said RBI has issued instructions to banks to put in place adequate safeguards to contain the menace of fake bank notes.

''The RBI has also taken up the matter with the Chairpersons/CEOs of banks where counterfeit bank notes were dispensed through ATMs,'' Mr Chidambaram said.

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