ABOUT PRIME MINISTER ’S BANNING OF 500 & 1000 RS NOTES

It’s a great move of Prime Minister : in one stroke, he got the support of all the common and poor people of India, including even maybe the minorities, such as the Muslims, many of them belonging to the more deprived class of Indians. This would be a major political coup for Mr Modi, that could pave the way for some of the Muslim votes going to the , not only in the UP polls, but also during the next General elections. He of course struck the first blow in the crucial battle against corruption and black money, the twin cancers that are eating away India’s entrails. What has not been said through by the Media, which is trying to see negativities, is that those who are most likely to suffer are political parties like the , who depend so much on black money for elections.

‘s unexpected announcement, will hit the real estate developers and traders the most, since both typically deal in cash to avoid paying taxes. But it is Real estate which will suffer the most, as thousands of crores worth of black money are stashed. As all of you who bought a flat know, you always have to pay upto 40% of the property price in black. You can expect now flats to become cheaper!

On top of that, the good news is that this new law is going to hit hard political parties. As you all know, in India, most political parties receive heavy donations in cash without any records. So many politicians have been caught with suitcases full of 1000 rs notes. One of them, the son of ex Delhi Chief Minister, whom I will not name, even forgot one in a train, showing how routine black money is for politicians. And what about all those Mulayam Singh and Lalu who keep giving laptops free to students, TV sets, etc? where will they find the money? Going by an analysis of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch for 2013-14, the source of funds for most political parties remain opaque. At present, about 75 percent of the source of funds to political parties remains unknown.

Here are some tidbits about ‘s bombshell and its practical consequences:There are 15.7 billion notes of Rs 500 and 6.3 billion notes of Rs 1,000 in circulation in India. Thus, 22 billion notes in the country were junked after midnight. Can you imagine how many black hoarders, politicians, corrupt bureaucrats, builders, contractors, must be wringing their hands this morning? Bravo the Govt, you did Indian proud. Rs 14 lakh crore–or $217 billion, 86% of the value of Indian currency currently in circulation–has become useless from midnight of 8 November, 2016, as per the Prime Minister ‘s brilliant plan. Rs 500 notes amount to Rs 7.85 lakh crore (approx. $120 billion), while Rs 1,000 add up to to Rs 6.33 lakh crore ($97 billion), according to Reserve Bank of India data.

One of the great successes of this plan is that the Govt managed to keep it secret till the last moment, otherwise, hoarders, corrupt officials, politicians, builders etc, would have found a way to unload their stashed cash.

Please congratulate your Prime Minister !

Francois Gautier