A video is going viral on YouTube claiming that ₹ 500 notes will be banned by 2026. This video has created confusion and panic among the people. However, the central government has rejected this ‘fake’ claim and said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has not made any such announcement.
This video was posted on June 2 by a YouTube channel named ‘Capital TV’, which said that ₹ 500 notes will be gradually banned from March next year. This video of about 12 minutes has been viewed more than five lakh times.
“₹500 notes have not been Demonetised and will continue to be legal tender,” the Fact Check Division of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) — the official fact-checking agency of the Government of India — wrote in a post on X. It also advised citizens to avoid misinformation. It said to always verify any news from official sources before believing or sharing it.
Currently, ₹500 notes were issued after demonetisation in 2016. The size of this note is 66mm x 150mm. The colour of the note is stone grey and its theme is ‘Indian Heritage Site – Red Fort’. Like other Indian rupee notes, the ₹500 note also has the denomination in 17 languages - English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetization of old Rs 500 notes on 8 November 2016. This step was taken to fight corruption and address the problem of counterfeit notes in the country. New notes were issued two days later. The RBI also introduced new ₹2,000 notes during demonetization. Although these notes were discontinued in May 2023, they are still legal tender.
