INDIAN POLITICS
Opposition slams Modi over ‘failed’ bank note ban
New Delhi — India’s main opposition Congress party lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday after central bank data showed that his shock 2016 move to ban high-value notes failed to meet his key objective of flushing out money hidden from the tax authority. Modi withdrew 500 and 1,000 rupee notes from circulation to make hoarded cash, or black money, worthless. The move aimed to bring billions of dollars worth of cash in unaccounted wealth into the mainstream economy and to hit the finances of militant groups suspected of using fake 500 rupee notes to fund operations. But the move, widely known as demonetisation, badly hurt India’s cash-dependent economy and caused tremendous hardship to people forced to line up outside banks before the notes ceased to be legal tender. Data released on Wednesday by the Reserve Bank of India showed that almost the entire amount of withdrawn currency had returned to banks, meaning Modi may have misjudged cash hoarding. The data gave Cong...
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