Appreciating the central bank’s role in the wake of demonetisation and global phenomena such as Brexit and the US elections, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya has said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) played an admirable role in bringing incredible stability to the rupee. He added that those who have been critical of demonetisation don't understand what a gigantic task it was to remonetise the economy.
Panagariya said that a much bigger shock was administered in November last year both due to demonetisation and more importantly due to the events in the US which led to capital leaving virtually all emerging markets. He said the rupee in spite of all these remained incredibly stable and the credit for it goes to the RBI. He also said that one only heard about the demonetisation story during this period but nobody noticed this fact that the RBI played an admirable role in ensuring that the rupee did not become incredibly unstable.
He further said that demonetisation sent a very strong signal that the days when the Central Government was complacent are over. If you misbehave, it will be seen that you pay for it. He stressed that the government's policy was to combat black money and demonetisation had to be the part of the overall strategy. He added that exchange rate stability has been achieved despite the massive pressures in the wake of Brexit as well as US president Donald Trump's election victory.
