oppn parties Not A Well Thought Out Decision

News Snippets

  • The Indian envoy in Bangladesh was summoned by the country's government over the breach in the Bangladesh mission in Agartala
  • Bank account to soon have 4 nominees each
  • TMC and SP stayed away from the INDIA bloc protest over the Adani issue in the Lok Sabha
  • Delhi HC stops the police from arresting Nadeem Khan over a viral video which the police claimed promoted 'enmity'. Court says 'India's harmony not so fragile'
  • Trafiksol asked to refund IPO money by Sebi on account of alleged fraud
  • Re goes down to 84.76 against the USD but ends flat after RBI intervenes
  • Sin goods like tobacco, cigarettes and soft drinks likely to face 35% GST in the post-compensation cess era
  • Bank credit growth slows to 11% (20.6% last year) with retail oans also showing a slowdown
  • Stock markets continue their winning streak on Tuesday: Sensex jumps 597 points to 80845 and Nifty gains 181 points to 24457
  • Asian junior hockey: Defending champions India enter the finals by beating Malaysia 3-1, to play Pakistan for the title
  • Chess World title match: Ding Liren salvages a sraw in the 7th game which he almost lost
  • Experts speculate whether Ding Liren wants the world title match against D Gukesh to go into tie-break after he let off Gukesh easily in the 5th game
  • Tata Memorial Hospital and AIIMS have severely criticized former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for claiming that his wife fought back cancer with home remedies like haldi, garlic and neem. The hospitals warned the public for not going for such unproven remedies and not delaying treatment as it could prove fatal
  • 3 persons died and scores of policemen wer injured when a survey of a mosque in Sambhal near Bareilly in UP turned violent
  • Bangladesh to review power pacts with Indian companies, including those of the Adani group
D Gukesh is the new chess world champion at 18, the first teen to wear the crown. Capitalizes on an error by Ding Liren to snatch the crown by winning the final game g
oppn parties
Not A Well Thought Out Decision

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-05-23 06:04:32

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

Most government policy decisions are said to be well thought out - or they should be. Since they are well thought out, they must be clear and must not cause problems for the citizens. But the decision of the RBI to withdraw the Rs 2000 banknote with a deadline to deposit or exchange them does not seem to be one such policy decision.

Consider the fact that the RBI has stopped printing Rs 2000 banknotes from 2018 onwards. Hence, their share in the total currency in the economy has dropped down to just 11%. Banks have for long stopped giving Rs 2000 currency notes when customers withdraw cash. They have stopped receiving the same from currency chests and were only giving such notes in withdrawals by customers as and when another customer deposited the same.

Hence, if the current position was allowed to continue, with a little more strictness (with direction to banks not to issue any notes to the public but deposit them with the currency chests as and when any customer deposited the same in their accounts), the share of the said notes would have been reduced to an insignificant number in a couple of years. But the RBI public circular has caused an unnecessary alarm.

The worst part is that the apex bank has said that the notes remain legal tender and then prescribed a timeline within which they have to be exchanged or deposited. This has confused everyone and it is demonetization by another name. The very fact that the RBI has been forced to issue several daily clarifications shows that the decision was not well thought out and the original announcement lacked clarity. The apex bank has faltered. It should have let the note remain legal tender and should have squeezed it out of circulation by prohibiting banks from issuing it back. That would have not confused the citizenry and not caused such alarm.