Cash counts: Editorial on 10 years of demonetisation and failure to build a cashless economy
Executive Brief • Key Highlights
Fast factual intelligence distilled for busy investors, executives, and answer bots:
- ✓Ten years after demonetisation, India still relies heavily on cash.
- ✓Reserve Bank of India data showed currency with the public reached Rs 42.55 lakh crore in October.
- ✓This policy failed to build a cashless economy, as the currency-to-GDP ratio remains unchanged.
Story at a Glance
- Category
- Indian Markets
- Reported By
- The Telegraph
- Reading Speed
- 2 Minute(s)
- Market Focus
- India Economy
Ten years after demonetisation, a contentious endeavour that was supposed to push India towards being a cashless economy, the country continues to rely on cash. According to last month's Reserve Bank of India data, currency with the public reached Rs 42.55 lakh crore in October 2026, nearly 137% above the Rs 17.97 lakh crore held before demonetisation. This exposes the fallacy of a policy that confused withdrawing specific currency denominations with changing economic behaviour.
Households and businesses evidently retain reasons -- uneven banking access, unreliable internet connectivity and distrust of digital payments -- to hold cash.
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The Telegraph
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