A message has recently gone viral on WhatsApp falsely claiming that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a deadline to exchange the old 100-rupee banknote till March, 2024, declaring it invalid as legal tender.
The message is being shared along with a photo of an old 100-rupee banknote stating the deadline to exchange it as March 31, 2024.
BOOM found the claim to be false. We reached out to Yogesh Dayal, the spokesperson for RBI, who confirmed that no such directive has been issued by the banking regulator regarding the old 100-rupee banknotes.
The message is being shared with the caption, "This old Hundred Rupees Note is No Longer Valid. RBI have Given a Deadline to Exchange the Notes 31 March 2024."
Click here to view the post.
BOOM also received the same message on its WhatsApp tipline number (7700906588) with a verification request.
Fact Check
We initially searched for trustworthy news sources to confirm the information that is being widely circulated through WhatsApp messages but were unable to find any reliable media reports supporting the claim. To validate further, BOOM reached out to Yogesh Dayal, the spokesperson for the Reserve Bank of India, who confirmed that the viral message is false.
Dayal told BOOM, "This information is not correct. No such instruction has been issued by the RBI."
The RBI, on July 19, 2018, released the picture of a new 100-rupee note stating, "The Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue ₹ 100 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, bearing signature of Dr. Urjit R. Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India. The new denomination has Motif of “RANI KI VAV” on the reverse, depicting the country’s cultural heritage. The base colour of the note is Lavender. The note has other designs, geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour scheme, both at the obverse and reverse. Dimension of the banknote will be 66 mm × 142 mm."
The press release also mentioned that all previously issued 100-rupee banknotes by the Reserve Bank will remain valid legal tender.