A mischievously cropped screenshot of a fact-check article by Hindi daily Dainik Purvoday is being shared on WhatsApp to fuel false claims that India's central bank plans to discontinue the ₹2000 note post December 31, 2019.
The screenshot of the article also falsely claims that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to introduce a new ₹1000 banknote post January 1, 2020.
The clipping in Hindi claims the following: "Reserve Bank of India is taking back ₹2000 notes. The ₹2000 denominations cannot be exchanged in banks after December 31, 2019. This is why you should start exchanging all ₹2000 notes that you have. You only can exchange ₹ 50,000 in ₹2000 notes, so start the process. This news also says that post January 1, 2020, RBI will issue new ₹1000 notes,"
However, the paragraph only explains the viral claim and is not actually reported as news by the Hindi newspaper Dainik Purvoday sold in Guwahati and Jorhat.
The image is viral on Twitter and was also sent to BOOM by a reader to verify the same.
Fact Check
BOOM had debunked a similar message which claimed ₹2000 note will be discontinued from December 31, 2019 when it was viral in the form of a WhatsApp message and accompanied by a story from the website News Track. (ALSO READ - Rs. 2000 To Be Discontinued From Dec 31? WhatsApp Message Viral Again)
BOOM found the full article published by Dainik Purvoday on December 1, 2019. The article is in fact a fact-check and the screenshot is the portion of the story that explains the viral claim. To read the full article, click here.
After explaining the claim the article states: "Nowadays, a piece of news has been viral on social media that post-December 31, 2019 ₹2000 notes cannot be exchanged. Whereas, an investigation by Dainik Purvoday has revealed that 'no such instructions' were issued by Reserve Bank of India..."
Another part of the article to provide context
The article also talks about the story by News Track which claimed, "following the signal from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SBI has started removing large note cassettes from its ATMs." BOOM had reached out to a spokesperson for State Bank of India and the spokesperson for the RBI but did not receive a response at the time.
Moreover, there is no such announcement by the RBI on either its website or official Twitter handle.
Demonetisation was an exercise where the old ₹500 and ₹1000 note was stripped of its status as legal tender - and the swiftness of the episode has enabled users of social media to spread and believe misinformation around banknotes and the banking system.