Demonetisation is new normal: Jaitley

Demonetisation is the new normal confronting black money which was a norm in India for seven decades, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley .

“Black money has been a norm in India for seven decades, we want to confront it and create a new normal,” Jaitley said at the Hindustan Times Leadership summit here.

He said the demonetisation move would ensure that political funding become “transparent”.

“Today each person gets assessed for tax at least thrice. In future, the effort is to simplify and ensure just one assessment,” he said.

“We are at the cusp of change and the battle between the taxman and the people who try to beat the system will continue,” he added.

He also said that demonetisation was just “one step out of the many” that the Centre has taken.

“We have taken a lot of steps in international financial co-operation to ensure real-time sharing of information. The impact of tax evasion is that budgets end up having deficits both at the Centre and in the states,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, announced the demonetisation of higher value currency to “curb black money”.