Demonetisation a watershed moment, says Arun Jaitley

On the eve of the first anniversary of demonetisation, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that note ban pushed for greater tax compliance and greater digitalisation.

The union minister said that the demonetisation exercise undertaken a year ago would be remembered as a "watershed moment" in the history of the Indian economy.

In a blog post on Facebook, Jaitley said the NDA government had taken a number of steps since the start of its tenure to weed out black money and demonetisation was a culmination of those efforts.

Jaitley said that "demonetisation met the objective of cash circulation and helped the country move to a much cleaner, transparent and honest financial system."

Further, he said that "there is Rs 3.89 trillion less cash in the economy now than in 2016 and the next generation will view 8 November 2016 with pride as it provided them with a fair and honest system to live in."

Hitting back at the detractors Jaitley said that "every structural reform will have some consequences and in the long run it will help the economy."

"If a major structural reform can cost you a setback for a quarter or two, is it too big a price to pay," Jaitley asked, adding that all his predecessors can boast of is "policy paralysis".

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched a scathing attack on demonetisation.

Manmohan Singh said," 8th November was a black day for our economy and indeed our democracy. Tomorrow we mark one year since the disastrous policy was thrust on the people of our country."

"Nowhere in the world has any nation taken such a drastic step that swept off 86% of the currency," he said.

OneIndia News