Did the Reserve Bank of India release a new 500 rupee note with Lord Ram’s image?  Know the truth.

An image of a 500 rupee note with Lord Ram and Ram Mandir’s image is going viral on social media. Users are claiming that this is a new 500 rupees note that was released by RBI and is in circulation. 

However, Fact Crescendo found the claim to be false. RBI has not released any currency notes with Lord Ram or Ram Mandir’s image. All the notes still bear Mahatma Gandhi’s image. 

What’s the claim? 

Sharing the image, a social media user wrote, “The new 500 rupees note released by the Reserve Bank..Jai Sriram.  .Jai Bharat.”

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Fact Check- 

A Google Reverse Image Search led us to the same image tweeted by an user on 17 January 2024. The user had clarified that the 500 rupee note with Lord Ram’s image is his creative work and someone had misused it to spread misinformation. He wrote, “Someone has misused my creative work to spread misinformation on Twitter. I want to clarify that I do not support or own any of the misinformation they have attributed to my work. It’s important to me that my creativity is not misrepresented in any way. #misinformation #creativity”

Further we searched the official website of the Reserve Bank of India to find more information on 500 rupees notes. But, we did not find any information on images of Lord Ram and Ram Mandir on the currency notes. The information available on the website states that, “The new ₹500 notes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series are different from the present series in color, size, theme, location of security features and design elements. The size of the new note is 66mm x 150mm. The color of the notes is stone grey and the predominant new theme is the Indian heritage site – Red Fort.”

Fact Crescendo contacted the Reserve Bank of India’s office for further clarification. We were informed that the viral claim is completely false and asked us to enquire about the same at the head office of the bank in Mumbai. After this we contacted the Currency Management Department of the RBI, Mumbai. We were told, “The RBI has not yet issued Rs 500 or any other note with the image of Sri Ram or Ayodhya or Ram Mandir. This is false propaganda” 

Conclusion: 

Fact Crescendo found the claim to be completely false. A creative art work of 500 rupee note has been used to spread misinformation. RBI had clarified that it had not released any currency notes with the image Lord Ram or Ram Mandir on it.