Tuesday 20th December 2016
In this issue of Money Truths….
- The drive to digital….
- On the Venezuelan front….
- All quiet on the British front….
- 2017: Going mobile – The War on Cash hots-up….
The drive to digital….
India’s drive towards digital payments is proving to be anything but painless….
Last month we reported on how the Indian government (giving just 4-hours-notice of its intentions) removed 500 and 1000 rupee notes (the highest denomination notes) from circulation – rendering 86% of the cash in the Indian economy worthless at a stroke.
The government took the extraordinary step because it wants to flush black-economy cash out into the light.
Indians can change the old high-denomination notes they hold into new notes – but if they can’t prove they’ve paid the tax on their cash holdings, they expose themselves to liabilities and stiff fines….
All over the country large queues of people snake around banks and ATM machines as man-on-the-street Indians scramble to exchange billions-worth of high-value notes….
Government mints are failing to keep pace with demand for new currency. There is a dearth of cash. Nobody has much of it to spend. Banknotes have become a precious commodity. And what cash people do have, they are holding on to.… Click here to read more