India TV Fact Check: A post circulating on social media asserts that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed the exchange of old Rs 100 notes until March 31, 2024, and claims that these notes are no longer accepted as legal tender. However, upon fact-checking by India TV, this claim has been debunked as entirely false. The fact-check revealed that the Rs 100 note with an older design remains valid as legal tender, and there has been no official notification from the RBI instructing its replacement.
What is going viral?
On social media platform X, a user @nawababrar131 posted on December 20, 2023. The post featured a photo of an old Rs 100 note, accompanied by a caption stating, "This old Rs 100 note is no longer valid. RBI has set the last date for exchanging the note as March 31, 2024."
India TV did fact check
To confirm this claim, we first searched for news related to it. We did not find any news on any media platform stating that the Reserve Bank of India has set a deadline for exchanging old Rs 100 notes or that the old Rs 100 note is no longer legal tender. Subsequently, we directly checked the official website of the RBI. Here, we searched for information related to this claim in the notification and press release sections, but we did not find any such order or announcement.
After that, we went to the Reserve Bank of India's X account @RBI and scrutinized posts dating back several months up to today's date. However, we did not find any information stating that the old Rs 100 rupee is no longer legal tender and that a deadline has been set for its replacement. During this process, we came across an old RBI press release dated July 19, 2018. In this release, information about the design of the new Rs 100 note was provided. Upon careful reading, we found that the RBI clearly stated that all banknotes issued in the previous series of Rs 100 by the Reserve Bank will remain legal tender.
Therefore, to confirm our findings, we spoke with Alok Kumar, Assistant Editor covering economic affairs at India TV. He informed us that neither the Indian government nor the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made any announcement regarding the Rs 100 note, and the old 100 rupee note is still considered legal tender.
What came out in the investigation?
After examining all the official platforms and news related to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it is clear that the RBI has not issued any deadline for the replacement of old Rs 100 notes. Both old and new 100 rupee notes are legal tender in all respects.
