No, Rs 2000 notes will not be scrapped and replaced with new Rs 1000 notes

Is the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) withdrawing the Rs.2000 note from December 31, 2019? Will a new Rs.1000 note be introduced by the Central bank from January 1, 2020? According to a message which has gone viral on social media and messaging platforms, the RBI is all set to introduce these new measures.

“*Central Reserve Bank of India..*Releasing new Rs.1000/- notes on 1st January 2020. *Reserve Bank taking back all the Rs.2000/- notes.* You can only exchange Rs.50,000/- So kindly start changing your 2000/- notes immediately. *After 31st december 2019 you cannot change your Rs.2000 notes.*”, reads the viral message.

Several Facebook users have posted this message with identical text. The message also been posted on Twitter from October 2019.

Numerous readers have requested verification of this information, which is also circulating on WhatsApp.

FACT CHECK: FALSE CLAIM

The claim circulating on social media and WhatsApp is false. This information about the discontinuation of the Rs.2000 note was earlier fact-checked by Alt News and found to be untrue. There has been no such announcement by the RBI. Any communication put forward by the RBI is published on the official website of the Central Bank, where no such notification is present. Moreover, the same was confirmed to Alt News by the Department of Communication, RBI.

The same false information was earlier circulated in the form of a morphed screenshot of a broadcast by Aaj Tak channel.

Moreover, Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, stated in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on December 3 that there is no government proposal to phase out Rs,2000 notes. “Citing the Annual Report of the Reserved Bank of India, the Minister further stated that the share of value of ₹2,000 denomination banknotes in circulation ( ₹6,582 billion) to the value of total notes in circulation ( ₹21,109 billion) was 31.18%, as on 31.03.2019,” reported Livemint. 

Additionally, the claim that a new Rs.1000 note is to be introduced by the Central bank, too is false. Earlier, an artist’s impression was shared widely as the soon-to-be-introduced currency note.

[Update: The statement by Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, has been added to this report.]