Skip to main content

PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Economy & business fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about economy & business. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

7,093 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYEconomy & business

Times of India published an article with headline, “5G spectrum auctions suffer a record loss of ₹2.8 lakh Cr”

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a purported Times of India headline saying that India’s 5G spectrum auctions caused a record loss of ₹2.8 lakh crore. FACTLY investigated a widely shared image of a newspaper clipping carrying that headline and compared it with Times of India’s coverage of the same auction. Its account says the newspaper’s article appeared in the Times Business page and that the headline there was “5G spectrum auctions earn Centre record Rs 1.5 lakh crore,” not the loss headline shown in the image. FACTLY describes searching Times of India’s reports on the 5G spectrum allocation, finding an article on the newspaper’s website, and then checking the e-paper for the same date. It reports that the e-paper’s Business page carried the different headline, and says its comparison of the clipping images showed the viral headline was edited. The review also notes that the original article did not mention losses of ₹2.8 lakh crore. The review provides additional auction figures that help explain the misleading framing: it reports that the sold spectrum was valued at ₹1,50,173 crore and the unsold spectrum at ₹2,81,432 crore. It says the 600 MHz and 2300 MHz bands remained entirely unsold, and attributes the explanation that their mobile-telephony ecosystem was weak to communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Those figures distinguish unsold spectrum from a loss reported by Times of India; they do not support the claimed newspaper headline.

dpaEconomy & business

Der Supermarkt Billa verrechnet ohne zu fragen fünf Euro Spende für die Ukraine.

Publisher’s rating: Die Spende im Zuge der «Herz für die Ukraine»-Aktion erfolgt freiwillig. Laut dem Unternehmen wurden die fünf Euro in einem Fall versehentlich dazu gerechnet und nach Bemerken sofort rückerstattet.

The claim circulated with a social-media image of a Billa receipt showing “Spende Ukraine” as its final item. The accompanying text alleged that the supermarket charged customers five euros for a Ukraine donation without asking. The investigation focused on that reported receipt incident and Billa’s “Herz für die Ukraine” donation campaign. A Rewe Group spokesperson told dpa that the specific charge was a one-off employee error: the employee had accidentally reached the barcode used to redeem the donation. The spokesperson said the customer was refunded immediately and the employee apologized. The review also reported the company’s explanation that customers could choose whether to add the five-euro donation to their purchase. Thus, the reported receipt reflected an accidental charge, not a policy of charging customers without consent.

EssayHaveEconomy & business

Is custom writing legit

Publisher’s rating: Custom writing services assist students with all kinds of writing assignments. There is nothing that goes against the law here. You get a flawless sample of paper and can get inspired by it or use it as another source in your bibliography page. Our goal is to make the lives of students less stressful.

FACTLYEconomy & business

Ramdev baba owned Ruchi soya company’s debt of ₹2,212 crores was waived off

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The post claimed that ₹2,212 crore of debt owed by Ruchi Soya had been waived off. The review distinguishes a bank writing off a loan for accounting purposes from cancelling the borrower’s debt: it reports that the account remains with the bank, which may continue trying to recover the money. Thus, the amount being written off does not by itself establish that the debt was forgiven. To check the claim, the review says it examined an RBI list of wilful defaulters. It describes the list as having been released after Saket Gokhale filed an RTI request on 19 March 2020 for information on the top 50 wilful defaulters and their defaulted amounts as of 16 February 2020. The review reports that the RBI list, dated 30 September 2019, recorded Ruchi Soya Industries Limited’s ₹2,212 crore debt as technically or prudentially written off—not waived off. The review also provides the company’s insolvency and acquisition chronology: Ruchi Soya entered the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process in December 2017 with total debt of about ₹12,000 crore, and Patanjali Ayurved acquired the debt-ridden company in December 2019 for ₹4,350 crore. These details place the acquisition after the reported write-off; they do not turn that write-off into a waiver. The decisive evidence in the review is the distinction between the RBI’s reported accounting treatment and cancellation of the debt.

המשרוקית של גלובסEconomy & business

"אתה בשנת שמיטה, בשנת שמיטה המחירים עולים"

Publisher’s rating: לא נכון ברובו

The claim is Alex Kushnir’s statement that prices rise during a sabbatical year. In the discussion described by the review, economic commentator Nehemia Shtrassler attributed a fall in fruit and vegetable prices to a significantly larger harvest than the previous year. Kushnir countered that the fall should be understood in light of the sabbatical year. The review examined whether sabbatical-year restrictions on farming generally lead to higher prices for consumers. The investigation compared average fruit and vegetable price changes during the current sabbatical year, which began in September 2021, with the same months in the prior year and with earlier sabbatical years. It reported an average 0.1% decline so far in the current year, against a 0.3% average increase over the corresponding months the year before. It found the same figures for 2014–2015, while the 2000–2001 and 2007–2008 sabbatical years saw increases of 0.6% and 1.2%. The review cautioned that these comparisons are not conclusive because many factors affect produce prices. The review also checked how farmers operate during sabbatical years and sought views from Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture and a ministry official. It reported that 95–97% of Israeli farmers use the “sale permit” arrangement, which lets them continue cultivating their land, and quoted the ministry as saying the sabbatical year does not affect most consumers’ prices. The review’s conclusion was qualified: the figures do not establish a simple cause-and-effect relationship, but they do not support the broad assertion that prices rise for consumers generally. It noted that some consumers seeking produce from other arrangements or imports could face a slight increase.