New Delhi: India's security establishment has long been convinced that Pakistani spy agency ISI was pumping counterfeit notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 to finance terror activities within, even earning a handsome profit in the process.
The ISI was clocking an annual profit of around Rs 500 crore, around 30-40% on the face value of each counterfeit Indian note produced in Pakistan, according to a report prepared by the IB, R&AW, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the CBI.
Indian intelligence estimates that terror financiers incur a cost of Rs 39 per ever Rs 1,000 note printed across the border – the RBI spends Rs 29 to print a Rs 1,000 note – but manages to sell it in India through various illegal channels at Rs 350-400.
The total fake notes that came into India in 2010 from abroad was pegged at Rs 1,600 crore, the report says. And going by this estimate, the report put the ISI’s total profit at Rs 500 crore.
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