as an ill-judged "carpet-bombing" because of the wide- spread chaos it has unleashed.
back money problem and were expecting it to be the begin- ning of Modi’s so-called big bang economic reforms.
A recent Forbes report taking into account the confusion, chaos, and fear has concluded that the cash ban policy has turned into a mess. For the Wall Street Journal, which had gone to the extent of describing Modi as India’s best hope of economic renais- sance last year, it did not take more than a week to predict the serious adverse consequences of his abrupt decision to void India’s largest bank notes. Financial Times did not hesitate in reporting how India’s cash chaos has sparked growing backlash and how Modi’s fantasy of heralding a "cultural revolution" in the country is unlikely to discourage Indians off cash. The latest caprice of turning India into a cashless country has clearly exposed to the international business communi- ty Modi’s inadequacy with viable ideas to lead the country for sustained economic growth and to make the India story a success. His decision to impose the ill-conceived note ban has seri- ously dented Modi’s carefully cultivated image of an effi- cient business friendly administrator, not only in India but also to the outside world. Moreover, Modi always had very limited support interna- tionally to protect him from the growing criticisms of his "fascist" policies at home by liberal media and civil society groups. The loss of support from global business groups due to the cash ban has also made him more vulnerable to increasing international censure.
But with the fast changing narrative of the central govern- ment - moving from demonetisation being a strike on black money to fake currency to making India a cashless econo- my - serious doubts have started to creep in. Narendra Modi's noteban is being talked about not as a "surgical strike" but as an ill-judged "carpet-bombing". (Photo: Bloomberg) The abject failure of the Modi government to remain pre- pared to reduce the hardship of the common people and to bring the country back to some sort of normalcy exposes that the unpredictability of the PM's decision-making with- out seeking expert advice is not limited to foreign policy issues, but also to core economic matters. One thing is for sure, business does not like a country with such magnitude of unpredictable decision-making at the highest level. Almost unanimous criticism of Modi’s cash ban policy by India-based economists has been reciprocated by their counterparts in the West. Larry Summers, the former US Treasury secretary, Kaushik Basu, former chief economist of the World Bank, and Ruchir Sharma,chief global strategist and head of emerging markets at Morgan Stanley, have come out openly against the policy. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has gone to the extent of describing the cash ban as a “despotic action” and “only an authoritarian government can calmly cause such misery to the people". Kenneth Rogoff, professor of public policy and economics at Harvard University, who even recently published the book The Curse of Cash has been unsparing in his criticism of the way Modi decided to impose the note ban and his abject failure to implement it. Financial analysts estimate that growth of the Indian econ- omy over the next two quarters could drop by as much as 1 per cent or more. The failure of the government to imple- ment the policy effectively has been a huge headache for millions of Indians and has raised pertinent questions about the success of this whimsical scheme. These developments have invited serious criticism from the same influential international business media which was sympathetic to Modi till now.
Picture Courtesy Indialive
While these business newspapers had initially lauded Modi for his bold gamble, the cash ban is now being talked about
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