Fact Check: New Ayodhya currency released with Ram Rajya Mudra? Here’s the truth

Hyderabad: A video showing ‘Raam’ currency is going viral on social media with the claim that it shows Ayodhya’s new currency.

In the video shared on Instagram, we can see a person showing ‘Lord Raam’ currency, saying it is the official currency of Maharishi Vedic City. He also says that this currency is used for transactions and the value of ‘Five Raam’ denomination is equal to 50 US Dollars.

The text on the video reads, “Ayodhya new currency… Ram Rajya Mudra… Jai Shree Ram”. The video was uploaded with the caption, “Ayodhya new currency. Should the currency in the name of Lord Ram should come into Bharat as well? (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the viral claim is false. The video does not show the Ayodhya currency. Ayodhya currency does not exist.

Keyword searches yielded no reports or social media posts indicating that Ayodhya currency exists. There are no reports of any central bank announcing its intentions to introduce an ‘Ayodhya’ currency.

Using a reverse image search, we found an extended version of the viral clip uploaded to YouTube on June 14, 2024. The video was uploaded by a channel named Desi Tourist with the title ‘Found a Hindu country but 99% Indians don't know about it? Desi Tourist Vlog.’ (Translated from Hindi)

The description of the video stated that it’s a part of a travel video taken during a road trip through the United States of America. The viral clip started from the 25:23-minute mark in the YouTube video.

From the information in the YouTube channel, we found that the person talking about the ‘Raam’ currency in the viral video is Amit Singh, a travel vlogger who uploads his videos on the Desi Tourist YouTube channel. The video description stated, “In this episode, I will take you to the magical land of Ram Rajya in America. A Land of Sanskrit Speaking people, land of Vedas & Vastu Shashtra, land of Bhagwan Ram currency note. Let’s go to Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa - the most progressive city in America based on Ayurveda. (sic)”

From the video, we understand that the ‘Raam’ currency is used in the Maharishi Vedic City of Iowa.

Using keyword searches, we found a Zee News report dated March 6, 2025, with the title ‘Lord Ram On Currency Note: THIS US City Has Currency Stronger Than Dollar; It’s Located In....’ The report stated that the ‘Raam’ currency was introduced in 2001 by the Global Country of World Peace (GCWP) with the goal of fostering global peace, progress, and prosperity.

“While primarily used in Maharishi Vedic City, it has also seen limited circulation in some European countries, particularly in the Netherlands,” added the report.

Is ‘Raam currency’ legal tender?

The Raam currency is available in the denominations of 1, 5 and 10, with each ‘Raam’ valued at 10 US Dollars.

According to the Times of India report published on the same date with the title ‘This place in the US has the Ram Rajya Currency in Circulation’, ‘Raam’ currency is a bearer bond not legal tender.

TOI stated that the ‘Raam’ currency is more of an instrument of investment, rather than a regular transaction: “…bearer bonds are usually issued by corporate houses or governments to collect funds, hence it is basically a debt instrument. However, no record of the investor is kept by the bank, hence the currency holds no legal tender.”

NewsMeter spoke to Amit Singh, who confirmed that the ‘Raam’ currency is not related to Ayodhya or any place in India. He added, “It is a conceptual currency from a Vedic-based small town in America.”

Amit Singh informed NewsMeter that he wrote a comment in the viral video, “I asked them to delete it, as it was spreading fake information.” However, we were unable to find Amit Singh’s comment on the viral video, and it seems to be deleted.

‘Raam’ currency is not a legal tender, it’s a bearer bond introduced by GCWP in 2001. Its circulation is limited to some places in America and few European countries, particularly the Netherlands.

Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the viral claim regarding an ‘Ayodhya’ currency is false.