Modi Cash Ban a `Total Failure’ as 99% of Banned Notes Back

‘Indians have deposited nearly all the currency bills voided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, denting the central bank’s profit and dealing a blow to his drive to unearth unaccounted wealth.
Banks have received 15.28 trillion rupees ($239 billion), or 99 percent of the currency invalidated, the Reserve Bank of India said in its annual report on Wednesday. The government had initially estimated about 5 trillion rupees wouldn’t be declared following the sudden move on Nov. 9, indicating that this was cash stashed away illegally to avoid tax. The cash ban prompted the central bank to print new currency, reducing its profit and cutting annual dividend payout to the government by half.
“This data proves that demonetization was a total failure,” said Mohan Guruswamy, chairman of New Delhi-based Centre For Policy Alternatives, who’d advised a previous government led by the current ruling party. “The prime minister obviously had overstated his case. You’ve lost so many jobs across sectors. How can people trust Mr. Modi and his numbers?”’
Read more: Modi Cash Ban a `Total Failure’ as 99% of Banned Notes Back