A video is being shared on social media claiming that the government notified to buy three kinds of old Indian currency in exchange for money depending on the quality of the coin/note. The video also states that a government coin collector would exchange the currency with money in person. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: The Government of India notified on buying old currencies coins/notes for lakhs of rupees.
Fact: The Government of India did not release any such notification on the exchange of old currencies. In 2021, RBI cautioned the public against buying and selling old coins/notes and clarified that the central bank does not deal with such matters. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
With the relevant keyword search, we found news articles (here and here) with similar kinds of claims being circulated. On further investigation, we discovered that the Government of India had not issued any official notifications regarding the buying or selling of specific denominations of currency notes like the 5-rupee tractor note, 10-rupee black note, or 10-rupee Vaishno Devi note.
In fact, RBI issued notices regarding the same in 2021 stating that no such announcement for buying/selling of old banknotes and coins was made. Factly had already debunked a similar claim made regarding five and ten-rupee coins with Vaishnodevi engraved on them.
It’s important to note that while certain old or rare banknotes and coins may have collector’s value, the buying and selling of such items typically occur in the numismatic or collectors’ market rather than through official government channels. On the other hand, e-commerce sites like Indiamart, Coin Bazaar, OLX, etc. do brisk business in old coins and notes. However, these sites act only as a third party and are not responsible for any transactions or fraud in this business.
To sum up, the Government of India had not issued any official notifications regarding the buying or selling of specific denominations of currency.
