India Wants a Cashless Society. But There’s a High Cost.
A sudden government change has created chaos—and long ATM lines.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/11/india_s_push_to_a_cashless_society_has_a_high_cost.html
E
arlier this month, the world watched as voters in the United States went to the polls to elect their new president. The same day, the government of India—the largest democracy of all—suddenly announced that more than 80 percent of all its banknotes are no longer legal tender. At once, $200 billion of hard cash became worthless.
On Nov. 8, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a right-wing nationalist who had made the fight against India’s endemic corruption a key campaign issue on his way to victory in the 2014 general election, stunned 1.25 billion people by going on television and telling them their 500- and 1,000-rupee notes (approximately $7.50 and $15, respectively) would be valid for only another four hours. After that, they would have to be exchanged at banks for newly designed 500- and 2,000-rupee notes, with a grace period of just a few weeks. This in a country where nearly half of the population doesn’t even have a bank account, and 90 percent of transactions are made in cash. There has been utter chaos ever since. Actually, chaos may be an understatement.
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Mad Poet Strikes Again.
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