Reuters, Newdelhi :
Anger rose across India on Saturday as banks struggled to dispense cash after the government withdrew large denomination notes in a shock move aimed at uncovering billions of dollars of unaccounted wealth hidden from the taxman.
Hundreds of thousands of people stood outside banks for a third day for long hours trying to replace 500 and 1,000 rupee bank notes that were abolished earlier in the week. These bills made up more than 80 percent of the currency in circulation, leaving millions of people without cash and threatening to grind large parts of the cash-driven economy to a halt. “There is chaos everywhere,” said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and a bitter foe of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said Modi’s move had upended the lives of the poor and working while the rich – whose wealth he had sought to target – had found loopholes to get around the new rules.
People argued and banged the glass doors of a branch of Standard Chartered bank in southern Delhi after the security guards blocked entry, saying there were already too many people inside the bank.
Anger rose across India on Saturday as banks struggled to dispense cash after the government withdrew large denomination notes in a shock move aimed at uncovering billions of dollars of unaccounted wealth hidden from the taxman.
Hundreds of thousands of people stood outside banks for a third day for long hours trying to replace 500 and 1,000 rupee bank notes that were abolished earlier in the week. These bills made up more than 80 percent of the currency in circulation, leaving millions of people without cash and threatening to grind large parts of the cash-driven economy to a halt. “There is chaos everywhere,” said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and a bitter foe of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said Modi’s move had upended the lives of the poor and working while the rich – whose wealth he had sought to target – had found loopholes to get around the new rules.
People argued and banged the glass doors of a branch of Standard Chartered bank in southern Delhi after the security guards blocked entry, saying there were already too many people inside the bank.
