A post with photos of Rs. 5000, Rupee 1 currency notes, and Rs. 150, Rs. 100, Rs. 20 coins is being widely shared on social media claiming that they were released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as new currency. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: RBI has launched new notes of denomination Rs. 5000, Rupee 1 and new coins of denomination Rs. 150, Rs. 100 and Rs. 20.
Fact: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has not launched Rs. 5000 currency note. The photo of One Rupee currency note is real. In 2015, it was re-introduced by the Government of India. Rs. 150, Rs. 100 and Rs. 20 coins in the photos are commemorative but not legal tender. However, 20-rupee coins are officially in circulation since 2020. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
RBI has not launched Rs. 5000 currency notes
Whenever the RBI releases new notes, it notifies the public regarding the same through circulars on its website. The RBI’s official website has no recent posts about the new currency in the press release section which can be seen here. The list of notes that are in circulation is provided in the ‘Know Your Bank Notes’ section of RBI’s Website, and the Rs. 5000 note in the post does not match with any of the notes on the website.
The One Rupee currency note is a real one
The One Rupee currency note in the photo is a real one and can be seen in the article here. The notes bearing the rupee symbol are printed by the Government of India and not the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Printing of one rupee notes was discontinued in 1994 but relaunched in 2015, according to this article and RBI. According to an RBI press release, on 30 May 2017, these one-rupee currency notes are legal tender as provided in the Coinage Act 2011. The design, dimensions and colour of the rupee note are according to the gazette notification by the Ministry of Finance. According to the then press release, the colour of One Rupee Currency Note shall be predominantly pink green on obverse and reverse in combination with others.
Rs. 150, Rs. 100 and Rs. 20 coins in the photos are not legal tender.
Commemorative coins are minted in the memory of a person or event etc. Some of these coins may not be legal tender, the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) mints these coins and auctions them to the public. According to RBI, coins in circulation comprise 50 paise, ₹1, ₹2, ₹5, ₹10, and ₹20. Therefore, Rs. 150 and Rs.100 coins are not legal tender. Reverse image search on the Rs. 20 coin shows that the image was already doing rounds on the internet since 2014 when it was not even in circulation as a currency. So, the coins in the photo are not legal tender.
An Rs. 150 commemorative coin was released in 2011 by Pranab Mukherjee as Finance Minister to commemorate 150 years of Income Tax Collections. An Rs. 100 coin was released in the year 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in memory of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. An Rs. 20 commemorative coin is available on Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Limited website which was released on Acharya Tulsi Birth Centenary. However, 20-rupee coins are in circulation since 2020, according to the RBI Annual Report 2020-21, there are 896 lakhs 20-rupee coin pieces in circulation till the end of March 2021. A new denomination coin of twenty rupees has been in general circulation since 17 September 2020.
To sum it up, RBI has not launched Rs. 5000 currency note and, these Rs. 150, Rs. 100, Rs. 20 coins are not legal tender.
