Fact Check: Viral message on RBI demonetising old Rs 100 notes is fake

Hyderabad: A viral message doing rounds on social media claims that old Rs 100 notes will not be considered legal tender, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set March 31, 2024, as the deadline for the exchange of the note.

An X premium user shared the image of the old currency and wrote, “This old Hundred Rupees Note is No Longer Valid. @RBI have Given a Deadline to Exchange the Notes 31 March 2024. #RBI #Currency. (sic)”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the RBI has not made any such announcement.

We ran a relevant keyword search about the RBI removing the Rs 100 note from circulation and the exchange deadline but did not find a news report by any credible media organisation. Had RBI issued such a notification, the media would have reported it.

Next, we looked for the press release of such news on the RBI’s website but did not find any notification regarding removing Rs 100 as legal tender and its exchange.

NewsMeter reached out to RBI spokesperson Yogesh Dayal, who confirmed that the viral message is fake. He said, “No such instructions have been passed by the RBI.”

Similarly, in 2021, there were rumours that old notes of Rs 5, 10 and 100 will not be valid after March 2021. PIB fact-check on X had clarified that RBI has not made any such announcement.

On July 19, 2018, RBI in a press release, issued the new design of the Rs 100 denomination banknote in the Mahatma Gandhi (new) series, bearing the signature of Dr Urjit R. Patel, governor of Reserve Bank of India. It also mentioned, “All the banknotes in the denomination of Rs 100 issued by the Reserve Bank in the earlier series will continue to be legal tender.”

Hence, we conclude that the viral message of RBI demonetising Rs 100 notes with a deadline for their exchange with legal currency on March 31, 2024, is false.