In a shock announcement, Indian Prime Minister, Modi, ordered the withdrawal of all existing 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes. Without warning, an awestruck Indian public began to digest the news announced late on Tuesday evening, IST.
Speaking to Indian citizen, Aakanksha Srivastava, Day News discovered that the move to withdraw these notes from circulation was completely unexpected.
“From midnight, all 500 INR and 1000 INR Notes will be banned, using them will be illegal,” she explains, “I’m in complete shock. Now my money is just pieces of paper.”
Unexpected
What was the motive behind such an unexpected and drastic decision? Part of Modi’s incentive to clamp down on illegal cash holdings and corruption. Addressing the nation over various television channels, the Prime Minister stated solemnly “black money and corruption are the biggest obstacles in eradicating poverty.”
A Noble Move
The move is a noble one to flush out sources of revenue acquired illegally or through corrupt means, however, it is not without its consequences. Potentially chaotic ones, at that, with banks and ATMs closed and a public without cash.
Indian banks have been instructed that they have 50 days, until the end of the year, to exchange the existing banned rupee notes, the most common in India.
Use of the 500 and 1,000 rupee notes will be illegal from midnight IST on Tuesday 8th November, although some institutions, such as airports and hospitals, will accept them until November 11.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014 on a promise to clamp down on billions of dollars of black market money in the Indian financial system.
But, no one could have expected the move to come so unexpectedly, raising many questions – not least, whether Indian banks are equipped to replace such a high volume of currency in such a short space of time? And whether the surprise move will have the desired effect on corruption.
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