It was certainly a bolt from the blue, when the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, announced the demonetisation of Rs: 500 and 1000 notes on November 8, with immediate effect. This proclamation sent shock waves across the country and to millions of Indians residing in different parts of the globe. The main objective of this move, as mentioned by the Prime Minister, is to curb black money, which needs to be appreciated and taken at its face value. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Almost more than forty days have passed since the decision was taken, and we could see that although the goal is good, there was a tragic flaw in terms of implementation, which ultimately led to the common man to shoulder the burden of such an important political change. Back in 1978, the then government had carried out a similar demonetisation exercise, which had not yielded the desired results. At that time, high-value currencies made up just 2.5% of the total currencies in circulation, unlike now, where the percentage of high-value currencies is 86%. In such a scenario, the withdrawal of these currencies is bound to have repercussions on all sectors of our society. According to Reserve Bank of India estimates, the approximate value of the total currency in circulation is 16 lakh crore notes, of which high-value notes amount to around 14 lakh crore. Replacing these notes with an equivalent quantity of new Rs:500 and Rs:2000 notes is not an easy task, as ideally it would take at least four to five months to print these currencies, taking into consideration the current note printing capacity. The challenge here is to ensure that the replacement is accelerated on a war footing, in order to minimize the difficulties faced by the public. It would also be interesting to carefully examine the likely long-term results of this exercise. According to World Bank estimates, black money or parallel economy in India was 23.2% in 2007 and currently it may be around 25%. With a GDP of $2 trillion and a parallel economy estimated at 25%, there would surely be $500 billion who have evaded taxes. Imagining a scenario where a 16% tax is imposed on $500 billion, $80 billion would flow into government coffers, which could further boost economic growth. Again, the main concern is that most of this $500 billion, which is supposed to be black money, is perceived as land, property, gold, stocks and the like. What portion of this is in the form of cash is something we cannot come to deduce at this time. The apparent windfall as far as the government is concerned is the Rs 12 lakh crore that has been deposited in banks after November 8 till date. This increased the bank's liquidity, thus leading to higher supply of Indian rupees and lower demand. This, in turn, has led to a depreciation of the currency which has started to benefit expatriates in the GCC and other parts of the globe, who get a very profitable exchange rate against the US dollar and other Gulf currencies. This should ideally increase remittances, but the flip side is that there has been a tangible decline in remittances due to constraints in cash availability among banks and non-bank financial institutions in India. An immediate transition from a cash-based economy to a cashless economy is another objective that is believed to be achieved through this act of demonetisation.,.