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Black cash is just 1% of black economy: Arun Kumar on 50 days of note ban

 

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi's self-imposed deadline of 50 days after demonetisation ended, Catch decided to take stock of the situation with the help of a well-known expert on public finance.

Arun Kumar, former Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University and author of The Black Economy in India, dropped in at the Catch office for a chat.

In a freewheeling conversation, Kumar explained how it is not unfair to say that demonetisation has flopped. He noted that the stated objectives of the exercise were misleading and that the exercise itself reflected a flawed understanding of the black economy.

Also read -Over Rs 164 crore black money seized in new notes. Has note ban failed?

Kumar also gave some mind-boggling figures: fake currency amounting to 33 times more than the Rs 400 crore which has been caught and black income generation in 2016-17 was actually about Rs 93 lakh crore or 62% of GDP.

Watch the round-table in full for a clearer perspective on demonetisation and the black economy.

More in Catch - Demonetisation may slow down economy: President Pranab Mukherjee

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Charu Kartikeya @CharuKeya

Assistant Editor at Catch, Charu enjoys covering politics and uncovering politicians. Of nine years in journalism, he spent six happily covering Parliament and parliamentarians at Lok Sabha TV and the other three as news anchor at Doordarshan News. A Royal Enfield enthusiast, he dreams of having enough time to roar away towards Ladakh, but for the moment the only miles he's covering are the 20-km stretch between home and work.