Did FM Sitharaman say people pretend to be poor but still purchase gold and silver? Fact Check
Claim : India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allegedly said that Indians are only pretending to be poor but are buying plenty of gold and silver.
Conclusion : The claim is totally false. Finance Minister Sitharaman never made this statement and there is no credible evidence, official record, transcript, video or news report which shows Sitharaman making this statement.
Rating : Totally False — 
Several social media users have shared a post about Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s alleged quote. Verified X user ‘IndiaAwakened_’ made such a claim and posted : “वित्त मंत्री निर्मला सीतारमण ने कहा कि हमारे देश मे कोई ग़रीब नहीं है लोग ग़रीब होने का दिखावा करते हैं लोग खूब सोना चांदी खरीद रहे हैं.” (#BJP) with an image graphic attributing the quote directly to her. In English this reads: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that there is no poor person in our country, people pretend to be poor but are buying plenty of gold and silver. View the post below –
वित्त मंत्री निर्मला सीतारमण ने कहा कि हमारे देश मे कोई ग़रीब नहीं है लोग ग़रीब होने का दिखावा करते हैं लोग खूब सोना चांदी खरीद रहे हैं.#BJP pic.twitter.com/erE7JqtLNy
— India Awakened (@IndiaAwakened_) February 1, 2026
Other users have shared similar claims which can be seen here, here and here.
तो फिर 80 करोड़ लोगों को मुफ़्त राशन क्यों दे रहीं हैं? अब बंद कीजिए मुफ़्त की रेवड़ियां बांटना।
निर्मला सीतारमण #NirmalaSitharaman जी आप अर्थशास्त्री नहीं हैं अर्थशास्त्री बनने का दिखावा मत करिए।
मोदी जी का #Pet होने से कोई अर्थशास्त्री नहीं बन जाता है। #Budget pic.twitter.com/5wzd8p26bo— Pankaj K Bajpai,IN🇮🇳 (@BajpaiP_K) February 3, 2026
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found that it is totally false. No official transcript, press release, reliable news source or any event shows FM Sitharaman making this statement.
Details:
We first conducted a reverse image search on the image shared in the claim to learn about its origin. However, we could not locate any precise post with those watermarks posted by the ‘The LTV’. Searches across official PIB releases, mainstream media transcripts and parliamentary records yielded no results matching the viral quote.
Next, we searched for references to the poor in Sitharaman’s 2026 budget speech that was presented on February 1, 2026. Point 49 of page 14 states : “Close to 25 crore individuals have come out of multidimensional poverty through a decade of our Government’s sustained and reform-oriented efforts.”
She also emphasized that citizens benefit from every action of the Government, undertaking reforms to support employment generation, agricultural productivity, household purchasing power and universal services to people, and reduced critical import dependencies. These measures have delivered a high growth rate of around 7% and helped us make substantial strides in poverty reduction and improvement in the lives of our people.
There was no reference to “pretending to be poor,” or India being poverty-free. View a screenshot below –
Next, we searched for any references to gold and silver in the budget speech and found no mention of silver. With reference to gold, the budget outlines capital gains exemption for sovereign gold bonds.
Next, upon analyzing other images of this claim like one shared here, we found clear evidence of it being altered after a reverse image search. This viral fake post carries a “Molitics” watermark but the original Molitics India graphic has the exact same photo of Sitharaman but contains a different original text which states: “Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman… 56.2 crore people aged 15+ are employed in India” in Hindi. Moreover, there is no mention of poverty, pretending or gold/silver purchases. View the comparison below –
View this post on Instagram
Apart from this, the above caption talks about how “Employment in India, GDP growth and banning junk food. These items were tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Economic Survey 2025–26.
Survey mentions “GDP growth is projected to be in the range of 6.5% to 7%… and suggested that junk food advertisements should be banned from 6 a.m. to 11pm.” A report summary of the Economic Survey by PRS confirmed that “Real GDP growth in 2026-27 is projected in the range of 6.8% to 7.2%”. The same has been confirmed by a press release by PIB and a report by Taxmann. As for suggestions about banning junk food advertisements from 6am to 11, The Economic Times has written about this in a report last updated on January 29, 2026.
Thus, the text in the claim is altered and no such quote by FM Sitharaman exists.
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