In the fourth year of implementing demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Demonetisation has helped reduce black money, increase tax compliance and formalization and given a boost to transparency."
Demonetisation is aimed at flushing out money hidden from the taxman, known as black money.
In a tweet explaining the growth since demonetisation came into force, the Prime Minister also said "These outcomes have been greatly beneficial towards national progress."
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seconded PM’s thoughts and said, demonetisation led to better tax compliance and a major push towards digital economy.
Underlining the merits of demonetisation, in a series of tweets, Sitharaman said: “To fulfill its promise of freeing India from corruption, the Modi govt implemented Demonetisation 4 years ago on this day, today. The move that was an unprecedented attack on Black Money also led to better tax compliance and a major push to digital economy."
Sitharaman said ₹900 crore of undisclosed income was seized in the first four months after demonetisation. And in the last three years, assets worth ₹3,950 crores were seized. While surveys conducted post-demonetisation led to unearthing of undisclosed income worth several crore, Operation Clean Money helped formalise the economy, she added.
On the other hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the government over demonetisation, alleging that PM Modi's move four years ago was aimed at helping a few of his "crony capitalist friends" and had "destroyed" the Indian economy.
Gandhi and the Congress have been alleging that the 2016 demonetisation was not in the interest of the people and had adverse effects on the economy, a charge the government has dismissed repeatedly.
In a video released as part of the party's online 'SpeakUpAgainstDeMoDisaster' campaign, Gandhi said the question is how the economy of Bangladesh "surpassed" the Indian economy as there was a time when India used to be one of the most high performing economies of the world.
The Prime Minister had stated that it is a fight against black money, but it was not so, Gandhi said.
"This was a lie. The attack was on you, Modi wanted to take your money and give it to his 2-3 crony capitalist friends. You stood in lines, not his crony capitalist friends. You put your money in banks and PM Modi gave that money to his friends and gave them a loan waiver of ₹3, 50,000 crore," Gandhi alleged.
On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Modi announced the decision to ban all currency notes of higher denomination of ₹500 and ₹1,000 from midnight.
