Does this viral clip show Rajdeep Sardesai and FM Nirmala Sitharaman on guaranteed returns on investments? Fact Check
Claim: Viral clip shows journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaking about guaranteed returns on investments.
Conclusion: The claim is totally false. The video has been altered by AI to spread fake information.
Rating: Totally false — 
A video has been circulating on social media allegedly featuring journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharam promoting an investment and guaranteed returns. Facebook user ‘Омогшил’ shared such a clip that showcases both of them purportedly endorsing for a secret scheme. View the post below:
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found that it is totally false. No such official announcement has been made via any official Government channels. The clips used are from a different event, whose deepfakes and altered audio has been created to fabricate a false investment scam.
We first conducted a web search with the phrases “Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and FM Nirmala Sitharaman investment scheme” to learn about the claim. There were no such reports from any media outlets. The Department of Financial Services/ of the Ministry of Finance’s official website also had no such circulars.
Following this, we found many irregularities about the video and people. Firstly, this video has not been published or streamed on any official Government website. Secondly, the clip opens with both of them speaking together but only Rajdeep Sardesai’s voice can be heard which is oddly unprofessional.
Upon conducting a reverse image search, we found the original clip of Rajdeep Sardesai which has been uploaded on his Youtube channel here. In this short, he speaks about whether Eknath Shinde would offer Kunal Kamra (a comedian who was targetted by his supporters) a friendship hand or some kind of compensation for breaking his studio. See the video below:
Another evidence is an odd statement by FM Nirmala Sirtharaman, who purportedly says: “We can’t open this platform to the entire country,” which is contrary to the Article 16 of the Indian Constitution. Article 16 guarantees prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, or residence, while also allowing for affirmative action through special provisions like reservations for backward classes. Moreover, the audio says that people will get Rs. 4,50,000 but the caption on the post says “1,500,000 rupees in the first month”.
After this, we conducted a reverse image search and found that the video used in the clip has been taken from another event. On October 18, 2025, FM Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the nation and said that the GST rate cuts have improved the economy. View a report by Bhaskar English and a X post by PTI which showcases the video and the original audio –
VIDEO | Delhi: Addressing a conference on GST Bachat Utsav, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) says, “…Classification related issues which led to a lot of questions and confusion in the minds of people and which also took a lot of courts’ time have all been… pic.twitter.com/Lxa37kdPey
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 18, 2025
Upon searching further for some kind of clarification, we came across an X post made by the office of Nirmala Sitharaman. The post clarified that “several deepfake videos of myself being circulated online, manipulated to mislead citizens and distort facts.” View the post here.
I have seen several deepfake videos of myself being circulated online, manipulated to mislead citizens and distort facts. It was a reminder of the urgency with which we must strengthen our defenses.
The new generation of fraud is no longer about breaching firewalls, it is about… pic.twitter.com/zfnbJvCUbN
— Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) October 7, 2025
Lastly, we used an AI voice detection tool and put the audio of the clip as seen in the claim. The results came out to be “Likely AI generated” with only 1% possibility of it being real. View the results below –
Thus, the claim is totally false.
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