Finance Minister Arun Jaitley calls the scrapping of old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes "a courageous step", he said the government could do it as India today has the capacity to take such decisions and experiment boldly.

The move will create a new Indian normal as the one that existed for the past seven decades is "unacceptable", he said, at the annual meet of industry chamber FICCI.
He added that demonetisation will help rid the economy of high cash circulation that had led to tax evasion, black money and currency being used for crime.
Senior Congress leader and party's chief spokesperson Anand Sharma attacked Jaitley under the same roof by saying that people have "lost faith" in the "banking system" after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "disastrous movement" to demonetise the high-value currency notes.
Anand Sharma alleged that "crores and crores and crores of newly-printed currency (notes) are going out" from the "back doors" of the banks while common people were denied their right to withdraw their hard earned money they have deposited in these banks.

Video: ANI/FICCI
Music: Big Bang Fuzz