Media house forced to delete story after PM Modi fact-checks misleading report on X: 'Totally false'

A report claiming the Indian government was considering a tax or cess on foreign travel was retracted by CNBC-TV18 on Friday (May 15) after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a rare move, personally intervened on X to call it "totally false". The rare rebuttal by a sitting prime minister prompted the channel to unambiguously post a correction: "Our story on government considering tax/cess on foreign travel is not accurate. We withdraw the story and regret the error."

What was the issue?

The original CNBC-TV18 report, citing unnamed sources, claimed that a proposal to levy a cess, tax or surcharge on foreign travel was being discussed "at the highest levels" of the government. It said any such levy would flow directly to the Centre and fall outside the divisible pool shared with states. The report linked the proposal to the fiscal strain caused by the ongoing West Asia conflict, framing it as a temporary, one-year measure to cushion the impact of rising crude oil and import costs. The report was posted without a response from the Finance Ministry.

Modi's response, a fact check, was swift and categorical. "This is totally false. Not an iota of truth in this. There is no question of putting such restrictions on foreign travel," he wrote on X. "We remain committed to improving 'Ease of Doing Business' and 'Ease of Living' for our people."

PM Modi's appeal to Indians

This comes at a sensitive time, as the GOI on 15 May 2026 increased the price of Petrol and Diesel across the country by Rs 3/litre. The government has been pushing a broader austerity message in recent weeks, with Modi himself urging citizens to reduce non-essential foreign travel, cut back on gold purchases and conserve foreign exchange reserves amid economic pressure from the global energy crisis triggered by the US-Iran war. He also recommended work from home (WFH), following which multiple states have issued WFH advisories.