5, 10, 20, 50, 100
100 will be King. Atleast for a while. Beyond the above, the big currency notes i.e. the current Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 cease to be legal tender from midnight of 8th November 2016. The Prime Minister of India, Mr Modi made this block buster announcement, earlier this evening.The PM hopes that this move would help eliminate/make redundant the following: Black money in the system, the fake notes being pumped in covertly by elements across the border and also the drug mafia in the country.
There are also plans to introduce new notes for Rs 500 and Rs 2000. Rumours have it that the Rs 2000 rupee notes have a ‘tracker chip’ embedded. There has been much public enthusiasm and anticipation for the PM’s bold move and the ensuring developments.
Cool Chilli’s Comments
Readers may recollect that about Rs 65,000 crores (10 Million is one Crore) were ‘declared’ by various entities a few weeks back as part of the amnesty scheme announced earlier. This ensured that about Rs 20,000 crores would accrue to the exchequer as tax annually.
Method in the madness
In itself, these moves by the PM are brilliant, but also seem to follow a well thought-out pattern. One is not sure about the actual amount of black money which may be eliminated by this. But coming as it does, on the back of various steps already in place, the game surely has changed for those thriving on ‘black money’. India’s moves are ‘game changing’ in the way it is showing the world that the current BJP Hgovernment and its PM are willing to take decisive steps to increase probity in the country.
Critics could ofcourse question the efficacy of this move and also share the possible inconvenience that some unwitting citizens may be subjected to. But as the PM mentioned, every genuine citizen would be / should be willing to make some small sacrifices to help India move ahead. Time will tell how this move has helped. But the bottom line is that India and Modi have decided that enough is enough. At some point the whip needs to start cracking.
Additional Reading
