India may soon relax conditions for cash withdrawals for weddings, a top government official said yesterday, the day after the central bank issued rules for such bank transactions widely criticised as unworkable.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shock announcement on November 8 that he would scrap high-value banknotes, to curb black cash circulating in the economy, came in the middle of India’s cherished wedding season.
Families, rich and poor, go to huge lengths to celebrate weddings in India.
A politician in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party drew massive criticism – and the attention of tax inspectors – after spending a reported Rs5bn ($73mn) to stage his daughter’s wedding after the cash crackdown.
Under rules set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), cash withdrawals up to Rs250,000 ($3,700) are permitted only for payments to those holding weddings who have no bank account.
The rules also mandate disclosing the names of all such recipients.
The money can be withdrawn only if the date of marriage is on or before December 30, the deadline for relinquishing all old, high-value currency notes.
“We have got complaints from various quarters about these tough conditions,” the finance ministry official told reporters, declining to be named as the proposal was still under discussion.
“We could relax some of the conditions soon.”
With just a small stock of smaller denomination notes available and people struggling to get hold of new Rs500 and Rs2,000 bills, consumers are holding back spending and businesses are suffering.
Banks received Rs5.4tn ($79bn) in deposits from November 10-18, or nearly a third of the cash in circulation in India, while only around Rs1tn was withdrawn.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expects extra deposits in banks to push down interest rates, ease the flow of credit and boost private investments.
That would help growth to pick up after the initial disruption from the cash crackdown.
But analysts like Ambit Capital, a Mumbai-based equity research firm, say the cash crunch could result in GDP growth crashing to 3.5% in the current fiscal year ending March 2017, from 7.6% in the previous year.
Opposition parties led by Congress have stalled proceedings in parliament, demanding a reply from Modi and compensation for the families of dozens of people reported to have died while waiting in long queues outside bank branches to swap old money for new.
Supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hold placards saying u201cChange the PM, not notesu201d during a protest against the demonetisation, in New Delhi yesterday.
