Recently multiple people on social media have been sharing a message about fake Rs 500 Indian currency notes being in circulation. While it could not be immediately verified how many of such fake Rs 500 currency notes are in circulation. However, this viral social media post highlights why it’s a good idea to always check each and every feature of a currency note before using it. This will prevent you from falling victim to the fake currency note scam.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has published on its RBI Kehta Hai website detailed information about the features to check for in a real currency note.
What are the characteristics of a real Rs 500 Indian currency note?
According to the Reserve Bank of India RBI Kehta hai website as of January 10, 2025, The Rs 500 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series bear signature of the Governor, Reserve Bank of India. The note has motif of “Red Fort” on the reverse, depicting the country’s cultural heritage. The base colour of the note is stone grey. The note has other designs and geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour scheme, both obverse and reverse. The size of the note is 66mm*150mm.
Features of the Rs 500 notes
According to information available on RBI Kehta hai website here are some of the features of Rs 500 currency notes:
Obverse:
● See through register with denominational numeral 500
● Latent image with denominational numeral 500
● Denominational numeral 500 in Devangari
● Micro letters “Bharat’ (in hindi) and ‘India’Reverse:
● Year of printing of the note on the left
● Swachh Bharat logo with slogan
● Language panel
● Motif of Red Fort
Some features for visually impaired:
● Intaglio or raised printing of Mahatma Gandhi portrait
● Ashoka pillar emblem
● Circular identification mark with microtext Rs 500 on the right, five angular bleed lines on both the left and right sides
Is there any app to identify fake currency notes?
There exists no official government app to check counterfeit currency notes. However, multiple apps are available on the Play Store and App store which claims to identify fake currency notes. The genuinity of these apps could not be ascertained. These apps are not authorised by the government and are also not affiliated with anybody from the government.
We tried multiple applications on the Google Play Store that claimed to carry out currency detection. However, none of the applications checked by us could identify and point out if the note was counterfeit or not. At most, these apps could determine the denomination of the note in concern i.e. whether it was a Rs 500 note, a Rs 20 note and so on.
We have so far been unable to find any reliable app that is currently available which could help in detecting counterfeit Indian currency.
Some tips to prevent falling victim to the fake currency scam
Alay Razvi, Managing Partner, Accord Juris, suggests some possible ways to check a counterfeit currency note:
To safeguard against fake currency, consumers should:
- “Inspect the notes such as watermarks, security threads, micro letting and guidelines provided by the RBI.
- Prefer bank transactions than cash transactions or receive any such volume through the bank.
- Use UV Light Scanners or authorised machines to validate notes.
- Report suspicious notes to the police station and RBI. These measures can collectively help consumers and businesses minimize their risk of falling victim to counterfeit currency scams.”
As per data shared by Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State for Finance Ministry, in the financial year 2023-24, 85,711 million pieces of fake Rs 500 currency notes were detected/reported.
Source: Lok Sabha
Source: Answers reported to Lok Sabha
Sonal Alagh, Partner, Alagh & Kapoor Law Offices, says from a legal standpoint, it is crucial for consumers to be meticulous about the currency notes in their possession.
Alagh says: “The Reserve Bank of India mandates several security features in currency notes, such as micro-lettering, fluorescence, and optically variable ink among others, which everyone should familiarize themselves with. Should you come across or inadvertently possess counterfeit money, it is imperative to report it immediately. Under sections 489A to 489E of the Indian Penal Code, dealing in counterfeit currency is a serious criminal offense, which can attract stringent punishment, including imprisonment. To ensure you do not fall victim to such scams, always check the currency carefully and use cash handling machines when dealing with large volumes of cash.”
Shashank Agarwal, Advocate, Delhi High Court says: “In the usual course of business, it may get difficult to look at the finer details, however, as retail consumers in daily life, we must be vigilant. These small and even finer details, such as the spelling errors, unusual thickness, font and style of typing, pictures of famous personalities, these can be identified and caught when the notes in hand are less than 10.”
What can the RBI’s MANI app do?
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched the RBI MANI (Mobile Aided Note Identifier app) app in 2020 to help the visually impaired persons identify the denomination of the currency note. This app however, does not detect counterfeit currency notes.
The app is available in more than 11 Indian languages, which include Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Urdu amongst others. The primary objective of this app is to help visually and/or hearing-impaired people identify banknotes.
How to use the RBI Kehta Hai website to know the official features of an currency note
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use the RBI Kehta Hai website:
Step 1: Go here-https://rbikehtahai.rbi.org.in/know-your-banknotes.html and click on ‘
Know your Banknotes’ button.
Source: RBI Kehta Hai
Source: RBI Kehta Hai Website
Step 2: A new webpage will open and it will feature the official 7 currency notes of India. Click on each individual currency button to know its detailed features. In this example we have taken the Rs 500 currency note.
Source: RBI Kehta Hai
Source: RBI Kehta Hai Website
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