After Modi’s move to discontinue 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, Indian banks are now struggling to accommodate the nation’s stashed cash as the wealthy and the poor alike rush to make their deposits. Bills of the now discontinued denomination made up more than 80 percent of the currency in circulation.
A similar move has been suggested by PPP Senator Osman Saifullah Khan for Pakistani, which could be just as useful, while at the same time, just as troubling. In Pakistan as in India, huge proportions of the population have no access to formal financial services, and as such would be majorly inconvenienced by a move that intends to curb illegal money transfers.
Despite the legitimate intention of such a move it ought to be rethought considering the effect it would have on the vast majority of the population that do not have bank accounts to keep their money in.