No, India’s 2,000 Rupee notes do not contain nano chips

This article is more than one year old.
Published on February 13, 2019 at 03:00
2 min read
By AFP India

Posts that have been shared thousands of times on Facebook claim that India's 2,000 Rupee note contains a nano chip. The claim is false; the photograph of a nano chip used in the misleading post is a stock image that has circulated online since at least 2014, and India’s central bank has said the country’s currency does not contain nano chips.

The misleading posts, for example this one, and this one which has been shared more than 1,300 times since it was published January 28, 2019, claim to show a nano chip fitted inside India’s 2,000 Rupee notes.

Screenshot of the misleading post

The posts’ caption says: “Nano Chip in the Rs. 2000 note is real. Tear your note like this to find the chip Lying inside. Show it to all the bloody libtards & pidis, so they can feel sorry for how stupid they are. You can also put the same chip in Rs 500 note as well, by tearing it & embedding the chip inside. PS : Share it for maximum awareness.”

A reverse image search found that the image of a chip used in the misleading posts is a stock image which has been used repeatedly by media companies including the BBC in a 2014 story about contraception, and by Al Jazeera and De Spiegel.

Below is a screenshot of the BBC 2014 report:

Screenshot of 2014 BBC article

The photograph of the torn currency note has also been used repeatedly in Indian media, for example here in a 2016 news article, and here in a YouTube video that attempts to prove there is no microchip in the note.

Reserve Bank of India introduced two new notes for 2,000 and 500 Rupees denominations in November 2016.

The Reserve Bank’s press release did not mention that the new notes contained nano chips.

The features of the new notes are listed on their official website here and there is no mention of the nano chips.

Screenshot of RBI information on security features of 2000 Rupees note

The bank has also said there are no nanochips in the notes, according to this 2016 news18 report.

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