India to withdraw big currency notes in anti-graft fight
New Delhi - India will withdraw 500 and 1,000 rupee currencynotes from circulation as part of a crackdown against corruption andtax evasion, Premier Narendra Modi announced Tuesday.
The 500 and 1,000 rupee notes (7.48 and 14.97 dollars respectively),the largest currency notes in the country, will no longer be used fortransactions from Wednesday and have to be deposited in banks by theend of November, Modi said.
The surprise move is designed to curtail black money - untaxed moneyhoarded from corrupt practices - as well as curb counterfeit currencywhich is used for financing terrorism.
"To break the grip of corruption and black money, we have decidedthat the 500 and 1,000 rupee currency notes presently in use will nolonger be legal tender," Modi said in a televised address.
"These notes hoarded by anti-national and anti-social elements willbecome just worthless pieces of paper," he said.
New high-security 500 and 2000 rupee notes will be issued fromNovember 10, the Reserve Bank of India said.
Concessions will be allowed for use of the old currency notes atgovernment hospitals or at railway stations over the next few days,Modi said.
Local media reported that the measure aimed to bring back billions ofdollars of cash in unaccounted wealth into the mainstream economy.Estimates of Indian black money range between 180 billion to 1.8trillion dollars.
Recovering black money and fighting corruption was among the key pollpromises made by Modi during his election campaign in 2014.
