I should point out that the Indian government is, as part of this initiative, actually *replacing* the 500-rupee note with a new one, not eliminating it completely. It is eliminating the 1000-rupee note, but is circulating a new 2000-rupee note in its place. So no, India is not in the process of going cashless. Far too much of the economic activity there takes place in tiny villages or along roadsides, where the infrastructure to support a cashless society is completely absent.
Much of the effort is aimed at erasing the value of hidden piles of illicit cash (bribery money, mostly) held by wealthy businessmen and political figures. In this respect, it has shown some success, though that was marred by the apparent heads-up received by some VVIPs in Gujarat and various political parties, which enabled them to get their money converted or deposited before the axe came down.
It is also apparently aimed at destroying a surprisingly large pool of counterfeit bills streaming in from Pakistan. It’s too early to tell how successful this is going to be, as counterfeits of the new 2000-rupee notes are already surfacing (they didn’t include any new anti-counterfeit tech in the new notes, so all the counterfeiters had to do was change the colors in the printers and recut the paper bills).
Thanks. A whole thread a couple of days ago never brought this out.
“I should point out that the Indian government is, as part of this initiative, actually *replacing* the 500-rupee note with a new one, not eliminating it completely. “
Introducing facts into a thread where people are going on about gold will get you some grief, I’ll wager.