Should Rs 2,000 Notes Be Banned To Curb Black Money? ABP-Cvoter Pre-Budget Snap Poll Looks For Answer

In ABP News and CVoter snap poll, participants were asked whether Rs 2000 currency notes should be banned to curb black money in the country.

ABP-CVoter Pre-Budget Snap Poll: Ahead of the Union Budget 2023, ABP News and CVoter conducted a poll to gauge the opinions of the people on various aspects of the budget and the economy. In the survey, respondents answered 10 questions revealing their expectations, which sectors they want increased allocations for as well as black money. 

Participants were asked whether Rs 2000 currency notes should be banned to curb black money in the country. Interestingly, a majority of people (65.5%) said they should be discontinued to curb black money, nearly 21% disagreed, while about 14% said they were unsure.

When the Centre demonetised the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes in November 2016, concerns were raised that the new Rs 2000 denomination notes will make it easier to hoard black money. As per the survey response, it appears that the concerns about the higher-value notes remain.

On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced demonetisation of old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes with the key objectives of the unprecedented decision being to curb black money flow and promote digital payments. The Prime Minister then announced new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court exonerated the Centre for the 2016 decision with a 4:1 majority stating that the decision-making process was not flawed. However, in her minority judgment, Justice Nagarathna held that the move was vitiated and unlawful.

Justice Nagarathna said that the objective of the Union government may have been sound, but the manner in which set objectives were achieved and the procedure followed for the same, was "not in accordance with law...". "I am of the considered view that impugned notification dated November 8, 2016...is unlawful. In the circumstances the action of demonetisation of all currency notes Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes is vitiated...," she stated.

Meanwhile, according to the Reserve Bank data, demonetisation of the high-value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 did not have any discernible impact on currency in circulation (CIC) in the country, which has soared by almost 83% since its announcement on November 8, 2016.

The CIC in value terms soared from Rs 17.74 lakh crore on Nov. 4, 2016, to Rs 32.42 lakh crore on Dec. 23, 2022, the RBI stated, as reported by news agency PTI.

Since demonetisation, the CIC has seen an increase barring the year of demonetisation. CIC contracted by 20.18% to Rs 13.10 lakh crore at the end of March 2016 from Rs 16.42 lakh crore at the end of March 31, 2015.

In the following year of demonetisation, it jumped by 37.67% to Rs 18.03 lakh crore and surged 17.03% to Rs 21.10 lakh crore at the end of March 2019 and 14.69% to Rs 24.20 lakh crore at the end of 2020. In the previous two years, the pace of CIC growth in value terms was 16.77% to Rs 28.26 lakh crore March 31, 2021 and 9.86% to Rs 31.05 lakh crore at the end of March 31, 2022.