Old Announcement By PM Modi About ‘New’ ₹500 and ₹2000 Notes Viral As Recent

Fact-Check: This video is from 2016 when PM Modi announced demonetisation. 

(Source: The Quint) 

A video from the English news channel Times Now featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the proposal for new ₹2000 notes, along with the updated ₹500 is being circulated on social media.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here) We received a query about this claim on our WhatsApp tipline as well.

Is the claim true?: The claim is misleading as this is an old video from 2016.

• PM Modi declared the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1000 notes, and later mentioned that new ₹500 and ₹2000 notes will be introduced into circulation in 2016.

What we found: We ran a Google reverse image search on some frames of the viral video and were led to a video on Times Now's YouTube channel from 8 November 2016.

• It featured the prime minister's address on demonetisation and the ban on the old ₹500 and ₹1000 rupee notes. The frames of this video were similar to the viral video.

• We ran a keyword search and were led to the original video posted on PM Modi's YouTube channel.

• 32:31 minutes onwards, he can be heard announcing the new ₹2000 notes. This part is featured in the viral video, as well.

• Similarly, Times Now also streamed PM Modi's full speech on their channel in 2016.

• Additionally, ₹2000 note, which was launched in November 2016, was taken out of circulation in May 2023, noted a press note by the RBI.

• As per an RBI press release from 2 December, 98.08 percent of ₹2000 notes have been returned, with banknotes amounting to ₹6839 crore still in circulation. The RBI further clarified that ₹2000 notes still hold their status as legal tender.

Conclusion: An old announcement from 2016 of PM Modi about the demonetisation and the new currency of ₹2000 and new bank note of ₹500 is being falsely shared as recent.

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