Demonetisation of notes not practical

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has demanded demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes as a measure to curb black money. The government has, however, ruled out demonetisation saying it is virtually impossible to implement. If these currency notes were to be demonetised, Indian government would have to print many times more currency notes of small denominations for which the mints do not have the capacity. Enough quantity of security paper and ink is also not available immediately, a government official said. The Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, C Rangarajan, who was the RBI Governor in the 1990s, said demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes was “very arduous to administer”, implying it was not a practical suggestion.