Tag: corr

A one-off reduction of unaccounted money must be followed by long-pending structural economic reforms.

Some of the most insightful arguments on the demonetising of high-value currency notes have come from Takshashila associates.

Ajit Ranade has long been a proponent of getting rid of the high-denomination bank notes, pointing out that this will make a big dent in holdings of unaccounted money.

Karthik Shashidhar, on the other hand, has calculated that the exercise will be very costly. In other conversations with some colleagues last night, we noted that the real costs will be even higher, given the higher transaction costs, friction and so on.

The Modi government’s move (even if it rightfully ought to be the RBI governor’s move) to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes and replace them after some time with new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes will act as a move to massively reduce the existing stock of unaccounted money and counterfeit currency. [Update: There will be new Rs 1000 notes too!] This will generally hurt the people who are sitting on large amounts of cash holdings (mostly for evading tax) and also, temporarily, those who are holding on to some cash, but have no bank accounts. This is significant.

A senior colleague argued that this was an extremely courageous move by Prime Minister Modi, not least because it hurts business communities that have long supported him and the BJP. However, given that this is one of the few moves that makes honest citizens feel good, it is likely to strengthen Mr Modi’s personal popularity. Effects on electoral outcomes have probably been calculated by those whose business it is to do so, and are probably as good as the best (or the worst) guess. There are just too many factors at play when it comes to how people will vote.

Now, if the government (or the RBI) had merely demonetized the big notes, the effect would have been to put permanent brakes on tax evasion and a faster move towards ubiquitous electronic banking. However, since the big notes will be back, the effect will be one-time. In fact, as another colleague pointed out last night, the same mattress will hold twice as much cash if filled with Rs 2000 notes. Also, many cash holders will convert their current holdings into gold, foreign currency or some other assets until they can change it back to cash again. There are limits to how much money they can hide this way, but many middlemen will make healthy commissions by providing such “services”.

Bank accounts will see a lot more transactions as latent account holders begin to transact through banks. This effect too will not be complete, as some might just decide to wait until the new notes arrive, and then lapse back to old habits. Behaviour is very hard to change easily. Until mindsets towards banks, taxes and scruples change, people will continue in the old pattern. It’s a good time to refresh the case for structural reforms: deregulation, getting rid of the license raj (no, it didn’t go away in 1992), tax reform and liberalisation. This will require even more courage on the part of this government (or any government, for that matter).

Will the move hurt confidence in the Indian Rupee? A sober Anupam Manur, Takshashila’s macroeconomics analyst, noted that denominations don’t impact the value of the currency. He doesn’t think the rupee will be hurt. On the other hand, another colleague likened this to Mr Modi’s Tughlaq moment — more politically, perhaps than economically.

The war against corruption and unaccounted money can only be won when economic incentives change, and in turn, change behaviour patterns (and ‘culture’). Disclosure schemes and demonetization of high-denomination currency notes have a salutary, but temporary effect. There is, however, no alternative to Reforms 2.0.