The Reserve Bank of India has said its annual report that a huge increase in fake Rs 2,000 currency notes was detected in the banking system in the 2017-’18 financial year. The central bank said 17,929 pieces of Rs 2,000 notes were detected in 2017-’18 while only 638 fake notes of the same denomination had been detected the year before.

However, overall 5.22 lakh pieces of counterfeit notes were detected in 2017-’18, 31.4% lower than the previous year. As many as 199 fake currency notes of Rs 500 of the new design were discovered in 2016-’17. This increased to 9,892 such notes in 2017-’18.

“Compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 35% in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs 100, while there was a noticeable increase of 154.3% in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs 50,” the report stated.

More than 99.3% of the banned notes in circulation before demonetisation was returned to the central bank, the report revealed. The total value of banned notes in circulation on November 8, 2016, when demonetisation was announced, was Rs 15,417.93 billion (Rs 15.418 lakh crore). Of that, Rs 15,310.73 billion (Rs 15.311 lakh crore) was returned, the central bank added.

This implies that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship financial effort has not achieved its goals even as it delivered a shock to the economy.