No ‘Nano GPS Chip’ in New Rs 2000 Currency Notes! Stop forwarding fake WhatsApp post

No ‘Nano GPS Chip’ in New Rs 2000 Currency Notes! Stop forwarding fake WhatsApp post

First the unauthentic pictures of new Rs 2000 notes went viral on social media and now there is a buzz that the new Rs 2000 notes would be embedded with nano-GPS chips, which will help the government to track the currency across the world. Is this news hoax?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday released an advertisement in leading newspapers regarding the new Rs 2000 currency notes. The RBI has listed 17 features of the new Rs 2000 currency notes. Notably, the ad has no mention of ‘Nano GPS Chip’ in the new Rs 2000 notes. So stop forwarding those WhatsApp posts that say the new Rs 2000 currency notes will be embedded with ‘Nano GPS Chip’. Initially, unauthentic pictures of new Rs 2000 notes went viral on social media and now there are rumours that the new Rs 2000 notes would be embedded with Nano GPS chips, which will help the government to track the currency across the world. But this is just a rumour.
In a surprising move that shook everyone from banking sector and financial institutions to common man, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday declared that Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes will be banned from midnight. The Modi government also announced that new notes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 will be introduced.

Rumours are on rife on social networking sites that new Rs 2000 currency notes will come with NGC (Nano GPS Chip). “The unique feature of the NGC is it doesn’t need any power source. It only acts as a signal reflector. When a Satellite sends a signal requesting location the NGC reflects back the signal from the location, giving precise location coordinates, and the serial number of the currency back to the satellite, this way every NGC embedded currency can be easily tracked & located even if it is kept 120 meters below ground level. The NGC can’t be tampered with or removed without damaging the currency note,” says the WhatsApp post regarding GPS in the new Rs 2000 notes.
The WhatsApp post further says that the NSG embedded in new Rs 2000 notes can be tracked and the satellite can identify the exact amount of money stored at a certain location. The satellite will alert the Income Tax Department if it finds huge amount of money at suspicious location for a longer period. (ALSO READ: Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes banned: How to & till when you can exchange and where to use the no-longer valid currency)
The theory that new Rs 2000 currency notes will come with Nano GPS chip seems just rumour only. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) spends Rs 29 to print a Rs 1,000 note. If you plan to embed Nano GPS or any such device, it would cost additional Rs 50 to manufacture it. So if the government plans to embed GPS in every new Rs 2000 currency note, then the total costs involved would be too high that might compel the government to suspend the plan.
Besides that, according to a report of The Hindu, currency printing press in Mysore has already printed the first lot of Rs 2000, and it has been dispatched to RBI headquarters for country-wide distribution. But the government or the RBI have said nothing on the GPS device on the new Rs 2000 notes till now. So stop circulating unauthentic WhatsApp post and wait for the official announcement.