SubscriberWrites: The journey of the two thousand rupee note in digital India

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Economy is no different and for those who argue that 2016 Demonetization was a terrible step should now celebrate the 2023 decision of RBI of discontinuing the Rs 2,000 note. Yes for immediate time a knee jerk reaction in society, media will dominate this topic but think for a second, how far India has come in last 7 years after the Roll out of 4G enabled infrastructure by Jio/Airtel. As per official sources 120 Crore Mobile Phone users and out of which 73 crore Smart Phone users out of which again we have 45 crores on Paytm/Phonepe kind of mode of payment. A country where 53 crore users are on WhatsApp and a literacy rate of 78% the need for a cash free economy is high and right.

I see social media posts/articles full to the point that people will have to go through again a painful process but it’s fair to say todays India genuinely do not need big size note of Rs 2,000. A Country where 39% or to say 56 Crore are getting benefits under MGNREGA for sure don’t have Rs 2,000 note, neither does Indian Middle class with a size of 35 crore population and heavily using smart phones need Rs 2,000 note, HNIs (High Net worth Individuals) have different tricks to park the money and they hardly care of Rs 2,000 notes. Genuine cases of large holdings can always be explained while Unfair means need no sympathy when hoarding of huge amount is in big notes. The only class which needs a bit of empathy here is our hard-working bank workers approximately 14 lakh who will be swamped with extra work of accepting these notes, completing the paperwork and quite often will face customer rude behaviour. Around 181 crore notes in the denomination of Rs 2,000,thus we can assume even if 18 crore population has 10 notes each this amount will change hands at the banks. This amounts to a value of Rs 3.62 lakh crore, constituting about 10.8 percent of Indian currency notes in circulation. According to the RBI ,the number of banknotes of Rs 2,000 denomination has steadily declined over the last few years to touch 214 crore which is just 1.6 percent of the total currency in circulation.

Every era has an end, and a new era begins ,the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 note is one bigger, better step towards a digital India where all money will have a trail as it will have a digital route, which can stop tax evasion, eliminate a parallel economy. Once something can be measured right, reforms are easier to push based on the data available for each small business/customer and a step towards transparency. Digital payment transactions have significantly increased as a result of coordinated efforts of the Government as a whole, along with all stake holders concerned, from 2,071 crore transactions in FY 2017-18 to 9,192 crore crore transactions in FY 2022-23 almost 5 times (Source: RBI, NPCI and banks). Once the use of cash decreases in any economy the risk of counterfeit currency also gets minimized, so even if you are not a Jingoist or a nationalist but just a rationalist pick your phone or debit card and just make the next payment digitally, corruption issues and note for vote by any political party slogan will not change the politics of the country or its future what will change in real will be through the effort of each conscious and responsible citizens participation in day to day life by making the economy cash free. You can Vote to anyone you like but your Note has to be in Digital India to Make India Great Again!

These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.

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