IPC · Chapter XII · Of offences relating to coin and Government stamps
IPC section 231, “Counterfeiting coin”, is now BNS section 178 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.
Merged into BNS section 178, which covers counterfeiting any coin, Government revenue stamp, currency-note or bank-note. The punishment is heavier: imprisonment for life or up to ten years, and fine (IPC 231: up to seven years and fine).
Indian Penal Code, 1860
Whoever counterfeits or knowingly performs any part of the process of counterfeiting coin, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation.—A person commits this offence who intending to practise deception, or knowing it to be likely that deception will thereby be practised, causes a genuine coin to appear like a different coin.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
Whoever counterfeits, or knowingly performs any part of the process of counterfeiting, any coin, stamp issued by Government for the purpose of revenue, currency-note or bank-note, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this Chapter,—
(1) the expression “bank-note” means a promissory note or engagement for the payment of money to bearer on demand issued by any person carrying on the business of banking in any part of the world, or issued by or under the authority of any State or Sovereign Power, and intended to be used as equivalent to, or as a substitute for money;
(2) “coin” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 2 of the Coinage Act, 2011 (11 of 2011) and includes metal used for the time being as money and is stamped and issued by or under the authority of any State or Sovereign Power intended to be so used;
(3) a person commits the offence of “counterfeiting Government stamp” who counterfeits by causing a genuine stamp of one denomination to appear like a genuine stamp of a different denomination;
(4) a person commits the offence of counterfeiting coin who intending to practise deception, or knowing it to be likely that deception will thereby be practised, causes a genuine coin to appear like a different coin; and
(5) the offence of “counterfeiting coin” includes diminishing the weight or alteration of the composition, or alteration of the appearance of the coin.
The texts are India Code’s. The amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed; State amendments are not shown. The PDFs linked below carry the full history.
The BNS repealed the IPC from 1 July 2024 (section 358(1)). The repeal does not reach back: under section 358(2), penalties and punishments incurred for offences committed against the IPC still stand, and proceedings for them may be started, continued and enforced as if the IPC had not been repealed. An act done before 1 July 2024 is therefore dealt with under the IPC section; an act done on or after that date, under the BNS.
