Fact Check: Govt has no plans to phase out Rs 2,000 currency notes, reintroduce Rs 1,000 notes from Jan 1; viral claim is false

Vishvas News (New Delhi): It’s been six years since the government withdrew the Rs 1,000 currency note and introduced new currency notes including that of Rs 2,000. Initially, the process to change currency notes took a heavy toll on common people who stood in long queues outside banks. But now, after six years, the old currency notes are just a memory. However, many social media users have started claiming that the government will phase out Rs 2,000 notes and issue new Rs 1,000 currency notes from January 1, 2023.

Vishvas News team investigated the viral claim and found it to be false. While it is true that there has been a significant decline in the circulation of Rs 2,000 notes but the social media claim that the government is planning to phase out Rs 2,000 notes and bring back Rs 1,000 notes from January 1 is false.

Claim:

Social media users shared the viral video to Vishvas News’ tipline number +91 9599299372 and requested to fact-check the claim.

Investigation:

The Centre on November 8, 2016, announced demonetisation and declared that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will now be withdrawn and new currency notes will be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.

After the announcement, the RBI released new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 in the market, which are still in circulation. Detailed information about all the new series of notes issued post-demonetisation is available on the RBI website.

Vishvas News contacted an RBI spokesperson regarding the viral claim. He termed the claim of issuing Rs 1,000 notes and denotifying Rs 2,000 notes from January 1 as false. Denying this claim, the Central Government’s nodal agency Press Information Bureau has also appealed to the people not to forward this message. PIB has informed that no decision has been taken by the Central Government to discontinue Rs 2,000 notes.

According to the Times of India news report, while answering a question asked in the Lok Sabha on March 15, 2021, the then Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur had told that after April 2019, not a single new note of Rs 2,000 has been printed.

Because of low printing, there was a decrease in the circulation of Rs 2,000 notes in the market. In the annual report of RBI in May 2022, it was revealed that there has been a decline in the circulation of Rs 2,000 notes and its share in the total notes in circulation has come down to just 1.6 per cent by the end of March this year.

According to the RBI’s annual report released in May, “at the end of March 2020, the number of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation was 274 crore, which is 2.4 per cent of the total notes in circulation. This number has come down to 245 crores in March 2021, which is 2 per cent of the total currency notes. At the end of the last financial year, it declined further and came down to 214 crores, which is 1.6 per cent of the total notes in circulation”.

Ever since these reports surfaced, there has been speculation on social media about the discontinuation of new Rs 2,000 notes. According to a report by Economic Times, BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi, during the current winter session of Parliament, demanded a phased withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes from the banks.

Raising the question in Zero Hour, he had said that Rs 2,000 notes were missing from most of the ATMs in the country and there was a rumour that these notes will be discontinued soon. He said that the government will have to give an explanation in this regard, as the RBI has already stopped printing these notes three years ago.

According to a report by the Times of India, published on December 21, the government informed Parliament that there is no plan for a second demonetisation even if cash surges in the economy.

Conclusion: It is clear from our investigation that the share of Rs 2,000 notes in the total currency notes is continuously falling, but the claim that new Rs 1,000 notes will be issued and Rs 2,000 notes will be phased out from January 1, 2023, is false.