Does the new Rs 2000 note have a GPS chip? Here’s the truth!

The talk of the town is simply about PM Narendra Modi’s unexpected announcement about demonetizing Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes overnight. Of course, this news took everyone by storm, especially those who are heavily loaded with black money. However, what was even more shocking was the endless tale on social media about how the new Rs 2000 notes will have a 'nano GPS chip', better known as NGC, which will be used to track the specific location of these notes from anywhere.

According to the rumours, these NGC chips would include ‘signal-reflectors’ that would help satellites to track the location of the notes, even if they are 120 meters below ground level.  The theory was that satellites would track heavy accumulation of such NGC-enabled notes, and could trace them to enable authorities to take necessary steps.

For a while, citizens did not like the sound of having our government gain complete access to how we spend our notes. But as soon as the RBI released details regarding the new notes, the air was cleared as there no official mention regarding any kind of chip embedded in the currency notes.  It is safe to say that this news was a complete hoax!

It would not be practically feasible to embed such a chip into every single note, much less have the ability to track them across such diverse conditions. If such hoaxes do surface in future, it would be prudent to re-confirm its authenticity from official sources before forwarding it.

For the record, here’s what RBI has officially mentioned about the new Rs 2000 note. 

RBI issues ₹2000 note in new series pic.twitter.com/7Ob2j1t6Ab

— ReserveBankOfIndia (@RBI) November 8, 2016

RBI issues ₹500 notes in new series pic.twitter.com/C8rJXrBRZ9

— ReserveBankOfIndia (@RBI) November 8, 2016