The writer has been parroting this thesis for at least a year now. S. Gurumurthy is an accountant; instead of beating about the bush in defence, let him present a balance sheet or cost-benefit analysis of demonetisation (“The great reset, a year later”, Nov. 9). The reference point must be the three objectives spelt out by the Prime Minister a year ago — nothing more. What were the values of the benefits expected, actual realisation, and costs? And the costs must include the costs of raw material for printing and distribution, counting and destruction of old currency, the Reserve Bank of India’s loss of profit and, importantly, the 2% GDP loss. I would double this figure as the GDP does not include the effects on the informal economy which was the worst hit. The benefits must cover only the immediately realised ones and not what will happen over 20 years. GDP growth loss consideration is a must as that is what represents the cost of job and livelihood losses.
M. Balakrishnan,
Bengaluru