Economy still not recovered from shock of demonetisation: Congress

New Delhi, May 30: The demonisation announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the “first major blow to the economy,” with the economy not recovering from the shock till date, said Congress leader and party’s General Secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh on Friday.
Ramesh further said with 98.24 pc of Rs 2000 notes being returned to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which were introduced at the same time of demonisation, has proven that the whole “experiment” was a futile exercise.
Criticising the demonisation policy in a post on X, Ramesh posted, “The demonetisation announcement made with much fanfare by the Prime Minister on the night of 8 November 2016 was the first major blow to our economy – and the economy has not fully recovered from this shock till date.”
Talking about the introduction, and the subsequent withdrawal of the Rs 2000 notes from circulation, Ramesh’s post added, “2000 rupee notes were introduced at the same time, in November 2016. But just as they were introduced suddenly, the announcement of demonetization of these notes on 30 September 2023 was also made suddenly. So far 98.24% of such notes have been deposited back to RBI. This clearly proves how futile and futile this entire experiment was.”
Calling back the claim that demonisation will “end fake currency,” Ramesh said that there has been a 37 pc increase in fake 500 rupee notes in 2023, highlighting an article which quoted RBI’s annual report 2024-25.
On November 8, 2016, the 500 and 1000 rupee notes were demonetised overnight, and new Rs 2000 notes were issued.
“Government of India vide their Notification no. 2652 dated November 8, 2016 have withdrawn the Legal Tender status of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations of banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series issued by the Reserve Bank of India till November 8, 2016,” the RBI said in a press release in 2016.
The decision was taken in order to tackle fake currency, nullify black money, and curb the funding of terrorism.
ANI