The foreign medias were never interested in India’s currencies like they are now. Today, The New York Times published a report titled “India’s A.T.M.s Are Running Out of Cash. Again”. As expected, this was an attempt to corner the Modi government ahead of the Karnataka elections.
“For the second time in 18 months, India has a shortage of cash. And like last time, economists say, it’s primarily the government’s fault”, said the report. The NY Times added “Public faith in the safety of India’s banks has also faltered over the past year, prompting people to keep more cash at home”.
What is the actual reason for the cash crunch in the ATMs? Is there a conspiracy behind this?
Even the experts are unaware as to why there is a sudden rise in the demand of paper currency in several states of India. “In the current month, in the first 13 days itself, currency demand increased by Rs 45,000 crore. This unusual spurt in demand is seen more in some parts of the country like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, MP and Bihar”, said the finance ministry in a release. Even the secretary in the department of economic affairs, Mr Subhash Chandra Garg expressed similar suspicions. He said that there has been an unusual spurt in demand; and the supply has not kept pace.
So, who is creating this artificial (fake) shortage of currencies in several states including the poll bound Karnataka?
The central government also said that it won’t inject any additional Rs 2,000 notes as around Rs 6.7 trillion of Rs 2,000 notes are in circulation at the moment. “As on 6 April, total currency in circulation was Rs 18.43 trillion, compared with Rs17.98 trillion a few days before the 8 November 2016 invalidation of high-value banknotes”, said a report.
Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha also expressed suspicions on this temporary shortage of currency. “I feel that it is unnecessary hype which has been created. Finance Secretary and RBI have said that there is no cash crunch in 80 per cent of the ATMs and there is enough cash available in RBI chest also. It is a political conspiracy to mislead nation. People should remain cautious from such conspiracies”, he said.
So he clearly denied that there is no shortage of paper currencies in India but an artificial demand was created to create the hype around cash crunch. People are suspecting that the “cash crunch” as a gimmick to corner the Modi government ahead of the Karnataka elections so that they can project demonetisation as the biggest nightmare that happened to the Indians.
“The government plans to increase printing of Rs500 notes by five times over the current daily supply. Rs 2,500 crore of 500-rupee notes will be printed daily in the next few days” said a report.
Among the public, there are several theories on the cash crunch. Few have said that the cash has been diverted to the poll-bound Karnataka state. This has raised the fear of money being an important player in the elections. Now the question is, who is withdrawing the currencies at large scale and why the Modi government is dragged into this?
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