The full form of FICN is Fake Indian Currency Note.

Fake Indian Currency Note is a term used by officials and media to refer to counterfeit currency notes circulated in the Indian economy. In 2012, while responding to a question in parliament, the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, admitted that there is no confirmed estimate of fake currency in India. However, several central and state agencies are working together, and the Ministry of Home Affairs has constituted the Fake Indian Currency Notes Co-ordination Center to curb this menace.

ake Indian Currency Note (FICN) is the official term for counterfeit notes in the Indian economy. Estimates vary as to how many fake notes are in circulation. A study completed by the National Investigation Agency in partnership with the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) stated that the value is 400 crore rupees (4 billion rupees/$53.3 million).

Fake notes are even dispensed from ATM machines at banks in India, particularly higher denomination notes.

The Indian government has been putting a lot of effort into addressing the issue of fake currency, including changing the design of notes to make them harder to copy and implementing a surprise overnight demonetization of existing 500 and 1,000 rupee notes.

On November 8, 2016, the Indian government declared that all existing 500 rupee and 1,000 rupee notes would cease to be legal tender from midnight. The 500 rupee notes have been replaced by new notes with a different design, and brand new 2,000 rupee notes have been introduced for the first time.

However, it didn’t reduce the problem of fake currency. Only three months after the newly minted 2,000 rupee note was introduced in India, multiple counterfeit copies of it were found and confiscated. There were even instances of fake notes being issued in the name of the “Children’s Bank of India” and dispensed from ATMs.

Since then, the Reserve Bank of India has progressively redesigned all currency notes. New 200 and 50 rupee notes were introduced in August 2017. This was followed by a new 10 rupee note in January 2018, a new 100 rupee note in July 2018, and a new 20 rupee note in April 2019.