PM Modi’s most expensive policy failure

Remember this video? This video made us fear PM Modi’s sudden late night address to the nation for a long time. 

At 8 pm on November 8, 2016, India became the world’s largest economic experiment. No pilot project, no trial run, no real preparation. Just one televised announcement and a billion people scrambling to figure out what to do with the money in their pockets.

The promise was spectacular: black money would disappear, counterfeit currency would be crushed, terrorism would be starved of funds and India would leap into a cashless future.

Many even felt that this was a bold decision.

So as we mark the tenth anniversary of demonetisation, what does the official data and a mountain of evidence tell us? So why has demonetisation become one of India’s most expensive policy failures.

Let me explain.