The government's decision to declare Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 rupee notes has evoked positive response from economists and industrialists.
The decision to scrap Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes is very good to combat black money, said Justice (Retd) M.B. Shah, Chairman of SIT on blackmoney. Those holding untaxed assets, income despite opportunity to declare will suffer, he added.
SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said that tomorrow banks will be closed for withdrawing these notes from counters & ATMs. We will work round the clock to ensure that customers have a smooth experience. We will strive to restock ATMs at the earliest and make them operational.
President Pranab Mukherjee called upon people not to panic and follow Govt guidelines for exchange of Rs 1000/500 notes. He welcomed bold step of Government of India which will help unearth unaccounted money & counterfeit currency
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called it "a drama". "The PM could not get back the promised black money from abroad from the rich so a drama to divert his failure..." she tweeted. "I want to know from PM how my poorest brothers sisters, who've received their week's hard earned wage in one 500 rupee note will buy atta, chai tomorrow? Heartless and ill- conceived blow on the common people and the middle class in the fake name of anti-corruption," Ms. Banerjee tweeted.
BJP president Amit Shah took to twitter to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the announcement: “PM @narendramodi ji's decision to discontinue Rs. 500 & Rs.1000 rupee note will immensely help eliminating the corruption. On behalf of all BJP Karyakartas, I compliment the Central Govt & PM @narendramodi for taking tough but timely & path-breaking measures,” he tweeted. “Announcements made by PM @narendramodi are exactly what is needed to uproot corruption, black money, hawala & fake currency rackets. These announcements will go long way in bringing economic prosperity in the lives of the poor, middle class and neo-middle class. We can no longer let corruption & black money slow down our development journey. We must create a prosperous India for future generations. The elimination of black money will help boosting the development with justice.”
CPI (M) leader Prakash Karat said that the party was studying the implications and would soon issue a detailed response.
Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav tweeted: Positive move against counterfeit currency. Govt overplaying impact on black money. Opposition overplaying transitional problems.
Nirmal Jain, Chairman, IIFL , said: "It is a very powerful measure to curb black money. Mr Modi has kept his promise of taking stern measures against black money. It was done some 30 years ago and since then a huge build up of unofficial money had happened. It will have deflationary impact in general and more specifically on real estate prices and make homes affordable and is indirectly a boon to honest tax payers."
Chanda Kochhar, MD, ICICI Bank: It is perhaps the most significant move ever taken to curtail the parallel economy. This move will give a sharp boost to all formal channels of payment which will help formal economy to grow.
Manoj Gaur, executive chairman of Jaypee Group told The Hindu, "This is a positive step. Sometime in life of a nation, all persons need to rise to the call of their leader. It is one such moment. Menace of blackmoney has to be given a jolt. This is step taken in best possible manner, with no inkling. The Prime Minister and government has worked very well."
Gagan Banga, VC& MD, India Bulls Housing Finance told The Hindu, "It's a very innovative move. No gain without pain!! Extremely good for Housing Finance Companies as element of cash will reduce and formal credit demand will increase."
Saurabh Agrawal, CEO and Co-Founder, ZebPay says, 'It is a great move by Mr. Modi to curb money laundering and counterfeiting. This will mark the beginning of digital currency era and bitcoins have a huge potential to grow and eradicate black money totally out of the system. We foresee immense movement in our space'.
Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said, "Bold, dynamic & brilliant move to end the black money menace. Beginning of the cashless, paperless economy in India."
Jayaprakash Narayan of Lok Satta: Dramatic, bold, far-reaching first step vs untaxed money.Congrats to PM. Now he must engineer real political reform & end vote-buying.Kudos.
Hats off >@narendramodi ji. New india is born >#JaiHind
— Rajinikanth (@superstarrajini) >November 8, 2016
Kunal Bahl, Co-founder & CEO, Snapdeal: We welcome the Government's bold and courageous move to weed out black money, which will have significant long term benefits for the economy. With this, the quantum of India's economy moving through the digital pipes will witness massive growth. Both Snapdeal and FreeCharge are committed to supporting all such initiatives.
Mukesh Butani, Managing Partner, BMR Legal: “An unprecedented, bold move leading charge from the front, the PM in the most secretively planned, seamlessly executed a move to root out unaccounted and counterfeit currency. A combination of national security concerns and wider agenda to filter out unaccounted income guided the Government to make this move. Figures of high denomination currency in circulation in past 5 years compared to growth in the economy pointed towards indicators of unaccounted money in circulation. Timing was perfect - a month after closure of the income disclosure week and a week after Diwali such that the impact of short term disruption in festive period is minimised.”
C.S. Ghosh, CEO and Founder, Bandhan Bank: The decision would cause problems to small traders and common public.
(With inputs from Manojit Saha, Piyush Pandey, Pradeesh Chandran)
