Demonetisation in India
The demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes was a policy enacted by the Government of India on 8 November 2016, ceasing the usage of all ₹500 (US$7.40) and ₹1,000 (US$15) banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series as legal tender in India from 9 November 2016. [2] The announcement was made by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in an unscheduled live televised address at 20:00 Indian Standard Time (IST) on 8 November. [3] [4] In the announcement, Modi declared that use of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series would be invalid past midnight, and announced the issuance of new ₹500 and ₹2,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series in exchange for the old banknotes. The banknotes of ₹100, ₹50, ₹20, ₹10 and ₹5 of the Mahatma Gandhi Series and ₹2 and ₹1 remained legal tender and were unaffected by the policy. The government claimed that the demonetisation was an effort to stop counterfeiting of the current banknotes allegedl