Demonetisation: One Year On

It has been one year since that fateful day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the biggest ever demonetisation exercise as a result of which all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were declared illegal. Over the course of the next few months, the government cited numerous reasons as to why this extreme step was taken, such as black money, tax compliance, counterfeit currency, terrorism and digital thrust. One year on, we look at whether demonetisation was a big success or a big failure? What were the short term and long term disruptions caused by the ban on currency? What were the implications of the move on the largely cash based unorganised sector? More importantly, was this a political move under the garb of economic reform? As some of these questions still remain unanswered, the jury is still out, on the impact of demonetisation on the India growth story.