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Comment by throwaway384629 | Hacker News Reader

In 2016, Indian government banned all notes of Rs500 & Rs1000 denomination with immediate effect and launched a new note of Rs2000 denomination. Then they found out that because the new note was larger than earlier notes, and ATMs were not designed to fit the new note. They had to spend weeks to upgrade all the ATM machines to accept new notes where whole county was in lines at the banks to exchange their money. [1]

Now they are discontinuing the note of Rs2000 denomination that they launched in 2016. People have till September 30 to exchange Rs2000 denomination notes for other currency. But one person can only exchange Rs. 20,000 at a time. Guess now it's again time to line up in banks. [2]

[1] https://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/new-notes-new-c...

[2] https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/rs-2-000-notes-to-be-withdra...

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> Guess now it's again time to line up in banks.

Yeah, no. Unlike with demonetization, 2000 rupee notes still remain legal tender. The timeline for withdrawal is significantly longer and the proportion of cash in circulation that needs to be exchanged is significantly lower.

There is no rational reason to queue up at banks now.

Thats not how most of the people feel at the ground level. Pharmacies/medical-stores, vegetable shops, petrol stations are already refusing to accept the notes. [1] [2] [3]

>> When asked for the reason, a chemist said, "Who will stand in the long line to exchange the notes? We don't want to accept it anymore." This was the reason given by most of the shopkeepers. [1]

[1] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rs-2000-note-reality-c...

[2] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/day-after...

[3] https://www.cnbctv18.com/business/retailers-delivery-agents-...

> Thats not how most of the people feel at the ground level.

People and ground level probably also believe there's a GPS Chip in those 2000 rupee notes and that 10 rupee coins are all fake.

Nevertheless, I did not see anyone queuing up at banks yesterday. Because there is no reason to.

During the 2016 demonitization, so called 'Journalists' in mainstream channels shared news that new notes have a nano-GPS chip and satellite can detect black money even if it's several hundred feet under the ground. The BJP propaganda team then shared this type of videos to the public across their Whatsapp groups across the country. [1]

[1] https://twitter.com/bprerna/status/799577707969249280?lang=e...

[2] https://twitter.com/shahnawazk/status/796950815332147200

People believe all kinds of nonsense with no basis in reality was exactly my point.

The problem is that this "nonsense" is not a coincident. All of it is carefully planned, executed and fed to the public to divert their attention from core issues.

You can see how all the "journalists" of different Indian news channels tweet at same time sharing same spelling mistake. Seems like they are getting the content copy from the same "office". [1]

https://twitter.com/samjawed65/status/1340554570766946305?la... [1]

> The problem is that this "nonsense" is not a coincident. All of it is carefully planned, executed and fed to the public to divert their attention from core issues.

So, you do agree that this is a boring exercise which doesn't deserve the breathless coverage that it's getting?

I think you misunderstood the parent, the 'breathless coverage' is intentional. 'Deserve' is completely orthogonal to the intentions of those pushing it.

The Financial Times is acting at the behest of the BJP is an interesting take.

The parent clearly linked to sources on Twitter that do not include the FT. Trying to deflect in a passive-aggressive manner doesn't help your credibility.

Linking to a completely unrelated story isn't a deflection but referencing TFA is? The GP suggested goverment collusion with media to create distractions. In the context of the story and TFA, that would mean the FT is in on it.

IMHO, you mentioned "There is no rational reason to queue up at banks now."

So I replied to you by sharing news articles about people facing challenges on the ground level.

Then you mentioned "People and ground level probably also believe there's a GPS Chip in those 2000 rupee notes and that 10 rupee coins are all fake."

So I replied by sharing articles of mainstream journalists sharing misinformation, and I also shared how these journalists are actually sharing content forwarded by Modi Government.

I don't know how you got this impression: "The Financial Times is acting at the behest of the BJP is an interesting take."

I have never tried to imply that FT is doing anything wrong here. FT is simply reporting on what Indian Government did.

> So I replied to you by sharing news articles about people facing challenges on the ground level.

The articles you posted suggested most places are accepting 2000 rupee notes. The vendors refusing to accept them are misinformed. The breathless coverage of what is a routine exercise is at least partly to blame for the uncertainty and confusion.

People believe in nonsense for all kinds of reasons including the government feeding them lies. But that is hardly the only source of misinformation. Nobody benefits from the fake 10 rupee coin story or the misunderstanding of what the current exercise entails.

The comment I replied to suggested that this particular story was being deliberately hyped by media outlets in collusion with the government.

2000 rupee notes stopped being released by banks over a year ago so these stories are really hard to believe.

Fed stopped printing money a couple of years back but they are still unable to swoop it back after what is it 18 months of working on it? Sometimes when you overprovision it takes a lot of effort to reverse it.

I'm sorry, do you believe the Fed actually printed excess currency notes? If not, I don't understand why you think your analogy makes any sense in this case.

That doesn't mean there weren't any 2000 rupee notes in circulation. https://www.deccanherald.com/city/top-bengaluru-stories/big-...

How does it matter if they stopped releasing these notes a year ago? Do the notes that they released earlier disappear from pockets of public?

On March 31, 2023 the total value of these banknotes in circulation was Rs 3.62 lakh crore constituting 10.8% of all the currency notes in circulation. [1]

[1] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/rs-...

> was Rs 3.62 lakh crore constituting 10.8% of all the currency notes in circulation

Is the point. Demonetization made ~80% of the currency in circulation no longer legal tender overnight. This phasing out is in no way comparable. Which makes the idea that people will have to queue up at banks unbelievable.

So deposit your 2000/- notes hoard in a bank, withdraw as many 500/- notes as you need. There's no limit to deposits, only on exchanging cash anonymously.

"Guess now it's again time to line up in banks."

Thats what I mentioned in the top comment to which are you are replying.

Ever played the game of passing the parcel? Any similarities? ... given that you can deposit only 10 notes in one go, why would I want to be the last one holding the bag?

They can depoiste any amount. They can "exhange" 20k. there is the difference. if you have source to explain the money, I guess you can just go and deposit it.

Indian friends mentioned that that was a tactic to push people towards less usage of cash. This now feels just like that.

Yup, move everyone to digital payment system and then add charges on that too.

https://www.outlookindia.com/business/should-you-worry-about...

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