India demonetised its high value currency notes on the stroke of midnight 8/9th November. I am in favour of this decision which will have long reaching impact despite short term inconveniences. I had gone out for a long drive on an errand this morning and did see long queues outside many banks. This phenomenon should cease in the next few days.
The grocer from who we buy almost everything needed for the home accepted high denomination notes on the morning of the 9th inst, and has been deducting our daily purchase costs from the credit that we made with those notes.
Ranjan went to our bank across the road to deposit all the high value currency notes that we had at home and had no problems whatsoever in depositing them into his account. The ATM machines unfortunately were empty and he will have to encash cheques for the next couple of days, which is really no big deal.
I am more or less a stay at home type and except to go to movies or to visit some friends or go with them out for a lunch, I rarely go out. I am however in touch with the aam aadmi.
Since our own 9/11,I have discovered that I don’t have to keep large sums of money at home towards the end of the month to pay our help at the end of each month.
This morning, when I was greeted by the Chaiwallah I asked him if he had a bank account and he confirmed that he had and that he has been saving money in it. I asked him whether he has been having any problems with the demonetisation and he confirmed that he had some small problems but he supported the demonetisation decision.
Our housemaid Mangal confirmed that she has an account with a bank and that it will be perfectly alright for us to arrange to deposit her wages directly into her account. she supported the demonetisation decision.
The same thing was conveyed to me by our gardener cum handyman Yakob.
The same thing was conveyed to me by the dog walker Somnath.
Our presswallah is currently away attending a wedding in his village, but I am sure that on his return he too will confirm that he has a bank account and he will have no problems getting his monthly payment directly into his bank account. And I am sure that he too would support the demonetisation.
Having roots as I do in rural India, I am sure that problems there would be minimal as the economy is by and large based on credit and barter. To confirm this, I rang up a cousin in rural India and was pleasantly surprised that the situation remains the same after all these years and also that there was overwhelming support for the demonetisation process in the village and surrounding areas. A fellow alumnus Jayant also confirmed the same in a post on facebook.
My whatsapp groups and facebook friends with the odd naysayer, support the decision and the overwhelming response has been glee at the discomfort of the cash hoarding types, particularly the political class and the bureaucracy with ill gotten lucre, read bribes.
I’m glad to hear you and those you mentioned have have been able to adapt to the demonetizing. Sounds like it could be a distressing situation, especially if it happens without any warning. I suppose you learn what is necessary to prepare in advance as much as possible in case such an event might occur. Given the intent for demonetizing it sounds like a good idea, just so those with legitimately acquired high currency were able to get them into their bank account.
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Like in any democratic society, we have our contrarians too and the debate is still going on regarding its efficacy. The public though is stoically going about converting the old currency. I am sure that in the long term, the nation will benefit.
i hope the demonetisation does the job it is intended to do!
and I think it has to be done without warning or else there would be a lot of hasty laundering going on?
I hope so too. Even now, despite the surprise, quite a bit of laundering is going on but the big fish have all been caught with their pants down.
I’m glad it’s going so smoothly. It sounds like a good idea.
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It is not going as smoothly as it has for me and Ranjan but the discomfort is temporary and we will get where we want to go in the long term.
Well, then. This sounds like a good thing for your country. I hope there aren’t too many “little” guys caught in the crossfire, although it sounds as if there are some fail-safe methods in place. Glad it is going well for you.
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If any little guys get caught in the crossfire, they simply have to open a bank account and deposit the cash they have and declare it for income tax and penalty and get on with their lives.
Oh the things retired hippies have to put up with:)
I suppose only time will tell whether this actually is a good thing or not.
Cathy
This retired hippy does not mind the small inconveniences!
I was in queue today but no hassle. My maid is on leave so cannt say about her convenience/inconvenience yet.
I am fully with the idea and fully support this. Hope it surves the purpose.
All right thinking people welcome this move.
that’s very interesting, I just used a money converter (online) to see how much both the Rs1000 & Rs500 was worth in NZ$ = $20.80 & $10.40 which is a very low amount here. And we certainly still have those notes along with $50/$100. I can easily spend $10.00 in a cafe for a cup of something & one food cake/sandwich type.
occasionally news here reveals that the type of household burglary through the India community is “cash/similar” often just stored…because there is a distrust of the bank. Maybe it has a history do with your country’s past…
Here in NZ much of the wage/salary is paid directly into a bank account – and then more and more people pay with credit, direct debit or eftpos cards. If you want cash you can sometimes pay with your card and ask for “change” – or you use an ATM (outside banks, businesses, other). In some cases, i.e. once you’ve on super/retired there are no basic bank fees…and then there are different types of accounts that do similar -and so on…
Our problem is primarily one of population skewed to the rural parts, some level of illiteracy and a flourishing money order economy in the economically backward but densely populated states. These will be the areas most affected in the short term but in the long term the nation will benefit.
I think we forget the rural sector, in a country land mass as big as yours – and your rural areas, as you state are densely populated. Whereas our rural areas are usually thin-on-the-ground people wise.
And of waking this morning to large earthquakes centred in what would be a rural area, the news says the town/village is sparsely populated…but of course the roading which links so many places are not in a good state. (i’m not in this region, rather I’m in the Auckland area in the northern part of the north island)
I read your response early this morning and so when I read the newspaper about the earthquake in NZ, I was glad that you were safe.
thanks
Hi Rummy,
I was going to email you asking a clarification on this matter, after having read it on BBC (since the site focused more on the complaints rather than informing exactly why the government made such a decision – it even got to a point where a tourist who was leaving that same day, found it a huge inconvenience to go back home with the high denomination notes…give me a break).
As with all things in life, this “distress” shall too pass.
Cheers
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The distress is indeed temporary, and the very innovative Indians are already finding ways of handling the shortage of currency notes via credit. In the next few days, things should stabilize.