'A watershed moment in the history of Indian economy', says Jaitley on eve of Demonetisation's anniversary

Hack:

• The Finance Minister has penned a blog post on the eve of Demonetisation's first anniversary
• Jaitley details the Modi government's crusade against black money
• He provides facts and figures to support his submissions

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On the eve of the first anniversary of Demonetisation, amidst the high-octane political battles ongoing all over the country, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has penned a blog post about what he's called, 'a watershed moment in the history of Indian economy'.

In the post, Jaitley says that Demonetisation signified "the government's resolve to cure the country from the 'dreaded disease of black money'". However, he also makes it clear that efforts towards this end weren't just restricted to invalidating the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes as legal tender and replacing them with new and advanced currency. On the other hand, they began as soon as the Modi government came into power in May 2014.

These decisions span from setting up of SIT to passing of necessary laws for foreign assets to demonetisation and to implementation of GST

Jaitley goes on to provide facts and figures to highlight Demonetisation's efficacy. 

It is common knowledge that cash is anonymous.  When demonetization was implemented, one of the intended objectives was to put identity on the cash holdings in the economy.  With the return of Rs.15.28 lakh crore in the formal banking system, almost entire cash holding of the economy now has an address

The Finance Minister proceeds to extol another effect of the move: bringing more people into the tax net.

56 lakh new individual tax payers filing their returns till August 5, 2017 which was the last date for filing return for this category; last year this number was about 22 lakh

Combining the effect of demonetisation with GST, Jaitley submits that there appears to have been an acceleration in the financialisation of savings and a shift towards greater formalisation of the economy.

He also writes about how the events of a year ago have contributed to turning India into a 'less cash economy'. 

110 crore transactions, valued at around Rs.3.3 lakh crore and another 240 crore transactions, valued at Rs.3.3 lakh crore were carried out through credit cards and debit cards, respectively.  The value of transaction for debit and credit card was Rs.1.6 lakh crore and Rs.2.4 lakh crore respectively during 2015-16

Along with Demonetisation's impact on the economy, Jaitley also mentions its effect in J&K and in Naxal areas

The reduction in incidences of stone pelting, protests in J&K and naxal activities in LWE affected districts are also attributed to the impact of demonetisation as these miscreants have run out of cash.  Their access to Fake Indian Currency Note (FICN) was also restricted

Finally, Jaitley concludes,

In an overall analysis, it would not be wrong to say that country has moved on to a much cleaner, transparent and honest financial system.  Benefits of these may not yet be visible to some people.  The next generation will view post November, 2016 national economic development with a great sense of pride as it has provided them a fair and honest system to live in