Reactions from the Industry-
The ICT industry too has reacted positively to the move and the reactions started coming out right after the PM made his announcement-
Sanjay Sethi, Co-founder and CEO- Shopclues
" This is a master stroke by the BJP government and a very bold move indeed. The country’ s infrastructure is much more prepared to make this a watershed moment for war against terrorism and black money. This will play a significant role in putting India on track to becoming the economic force it is intended to be."
Upasana Taku, Co-founder- MobiKwik
“ The announcement of discontinuation of Rs 500 & Rs 1000 notes is a mind blowing initiative taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to curb black money in India. This is the biggest surgical strike on the menace of cash ever heard of anywhere in the world. This is a historic policy change and will go down in democratic India ' s history as more impactful than the economic reforms of 1990s. Our kids will read about this in their history and economics books. Within a 50 day period a billion Indians will change their payments behaviour- we will move from cash only to a cash-free economy.”
Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO and Co-Founder, Unocoin
" The intentions are good but very difficult to achieve. If going cashless is the only way forward, certainly the bitcoin which is borderless trustless and transparent currency makes more sense ".
Manavjeet Singh, CEO & Founder, Rubique
" This is a promising move made by the government towards cashless economy. This will boost innovation in the nascent electronic payment industry. Without doubt, this will bring down frauds and thefts and costs of printing cash. It is a great blow to black money. If executed well, the costs of doing transactions between buyers and sellers will lower significantly by 2019."
Ranjit Punja, CEO & Co-founder, Creditmantri
" A Sweeping step taken by the PM, but this should have a positive impact in curtailing black money and reducing corruption. Likely to cause some temporary hardship, and with the introduction of the Rs. 2,000 note, along with the security and tracking features, currency will be used as intended."
Suresh Pansari, Director- Rashi Peripherals
The announcement made by Narendra Modi to cancel legal tendering of Indian Currency Note of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 with effect from 9th November is a very bold decision for the Indian Economy after Banking nationalization in 1969.
Discontinuation of currency note of denomination of 500 and
1000, with a view to keep in mind:
• 1 To differentiate the legal Notes and old fake note which are in circulation.
• 2 To stop money supply to terrorist and drug mafia.
• 3 To improve better Tax compliance and additional Tax collected to be used for building Infrastructure in India such as Road, Air Ports, Sea Ports, Power Plant etc
• 4 To reduce corruption in Indian Politics and Government.
• 5 To bring Cash money in circulation for better productivity.
Impact of above, may be- 1. Transaction in Cash will reduce drastically. 2. Payment through Cheque, RTGS, NIFTY, Credit Card, Debit
Card will increase a lot 3. Indian Retails that used to accept Cash needs to change their way of operation from Cash to Banking Money. 4. Much awaited Tax compliance will be in place for: Income Tax,
Service Tax, VAT, Stamp Duty, Local Levy etc. 5. Corruption should reduce drastically.
6. Level playing field, honesty and efficiency to reward, will pay a major roll.
7. In few months / short term period, Rural Population will face difficulty for this decision of cancellation of old Notes but the same will get habituated and would create more benefits to them, in medium / long term.
8. IT and Mobility business, again short term we might slow down for a while but soon will have much better / higher opportunities way forward, after implementation of GST in 2017.
Abey Zachariah, CEO- Goodbox
" This will change the way business happens. This is the death knell of the parallel economy. We are thankful to Prime Minister Modi for taking this step. We were predicting that money will be digital to a large extent in the 3-5 years. The move by PM Modi will accelerate the process. This move will help the country fight the menace of fake currency. Black money will be out and this will give a big fillip to businesses like Goodbox. We expect transaction charges to go to a small fraction of what it is today due to increased digital currency transactions. This will result in businesses adopting digital and platforms like Goodbox for the future. Black money will not be a competitive advantage."
M A Mannan, Country Manager, India- Corsair
" This is a great initiative by the government and a bold step towards future. Though it came as a surprise but everyone should appreciate and support the initiative to flush out fake currency, black money from our country. Biggest plus is at least this government is initiating some kind of actions against black money which is good for the economy. Minus from this development is to wait and watch, as money demonetization has happened before in history but with no effects on black money. Suggestions could be many but when it is done it ' s done. It should have been done in a phased manner to start with 1000Rs and then to 500Rs.”
Sanjay Patodia, CEO- Galaxy Office Automation Pvt. Ltd.
" The ban on big currency notes will definitely going to give a positive boost, but only in the short term. The government is allowing people to deposit money into the system, but also reserve the right to audit it. There is still not much clarity on some points like the penalty for not depositing money in a given time frame and the rates of the penalty for late deposit. The other thing to look forward is how the government can sustain this impact. With the arrival of new big currency the government should make efficient plans to curtail on cash money.
Rajan Chellappan, Managing Director- Optiserv Solutions Pvt Ltd.
" We will call it a calculated step by Government of India towards the economic growth of the country. This step will help in making cashless transactions a mainstream. However, this will not going to affect IT sphere, particularly the organized IT industry, where all the transactions are done through banking systems only."
Suresh Sethi, Business Head, M-Pesa, Vodafone India
“ Vodafone India welcomes the Government’ s bold step to accelerate India’ s progress into a less cash economy. We reiterate our commitment to actualize the government’ s vision through Vodafone M-Pesa that leverages the reach of mobile technology to enable financial inclusion and offers the convenience of a digital wallet for easy transactions. The unique cash out feature of Vodafone M-Pesa makes it the ideal digital wallet for masses, enabling users to digitise cash, remit it to family and friends, pay bills and / or withdraw it at their convenience from over 120,000 touch points across the country.”
www. varindia. com November 2016
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