Claim about India banning all physical currency by February 1, 2025 goes viral; Fact-Check

Posted by: Arun Nag January 26, 2025

Malayalam dailies have published an ad featuring RBI announcement that all transactions in India would transition to digital currency starting February 1, 2025. Following the 2016 ban on Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 currencies, the latest advertisement has gone viral, creating a panic situation as the deadline mentioned is hardly two weeks to adhere the directive.

See the claim on social media here:

FACT-CHECK

Since the claim is already shared widely with potential impact, Digiteye India took it up for scrutiny. First of all, RBI website or government notification is NOT there on any official channel nor any news coverage of the same. Such a development would have made invariably it to headlines.

Following the translation of the advertisement using google Lens, we realised that it was full of anomalies and lacks basic attributes or names. The ad, published in major Kerala newspapers such as Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, among others, carried the headline, “Goodbye Notes; Now Digital Currency” in Malayalam. Here’s an explanation about the ad describing it as a new initiative by Jain university:

And, the ad claimed that “RBI Governor Dr. Arvind Kumar,” “Finance Minister Rajeev Singh,” and “Leader of Opposition Anjali Mehra” which makes no sense as the current RBI head is Sanjay Malhotra, the Finance Minister is Nirmala Sitharaman, and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha is Rahul Gandhi. Finally, when we scrutinised the Disclaimer, it stated clearly that it was an advertisement which is imaginary of the front page of a newspaper in 2050. See the Advertisement Disclaimer:

The disclaimer reads: “Notice: The front-page news presented in the newspaper is fictional, created as part of the promotional campaign for ‘The Summit of Future 2025,’ hosted by Jain Deemed-to-be University in Kochi. This is an imaginative depiction of what the front page of newspapers might look like in 2050. Any resemblance to real events or reports is purely coincidental. The opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of Jain Deemed-to-be University or its affiliated institutions.”

The disclaimer was accompanied by promotional content for the university and a QR code leading to its Summit of Future 2025 event page.

Hence, a futuristic and imaginary ad has created confusion and panic on social media platforms and the ad format has intensified the impact. Later, Malayala Manorama advertisement officials confirmed the ad was part of Jain University’s promotional campaign and was not a news report. The same was reiterated by the Jain varsity officials here.

The local trade body Kerala Vyapari Vtavasai Ekopana Samiti also issued a statement criticising the misleading front page ad, masquerading as news, regarding the ban on currency notes. Samiti president SS Manoj told media that the ad misused government offices and constitutional bodies like the Reserve Bank of India, and asserted that legal action would be initiated against the Jain (deemed-to-be) University. Hence, the claim is totally false.

Claim: A front-page advertisement in Kerala newspapers claimed that RBI will ban physical currency starting from February 1, 2025.

Conclusion: Totally False. The claim is an advertisement of a private university and not a government announcement.

Rating: Totally False — Five rating

About Arun Nag

Arun is with Digiteye India since the beginning as the main source for re-writing copies and re-checking the facts and images. He writes on general and tech issues. He can be reached at arunnag@digiteye.in

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