Demonetization-What is Clear

By | November 19, 2016 1:50 pm

wrote Akash Prakash

Very Nice Well Thought Article by Mr Akash Prakash

What is clear is as follows:

1. Banks will benefit, as much of this ₹ 15 lakh crore in currency will get deposited. Even if only 10 % remains with the banks it means an incremental ₹ 1.5 lakh crore of current and savings account ratio (CASA). Interest rates are headed lower system-wide as banks’ cost of funds decline, they lower rates and park these flows into government paper. Already we have seen Indian 10-year yields fall by 40 basis points in the last week, despite yields rising globally. Also remember this money left with the banks will have a multiplier compared to it sitting in cash. The system should be awash in liquidity.

2. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will cut rates sharply and quickly. This reduction in currency will be a deflationary shock, with certain asset markets declining sharply and economic activity weak for the next two quarters at least. Inflation will decline giving the RBI the space to cut.

3. Financialisation of savings will accelerate as both property and gold will now be challenged as alternate stores of value. The cost of capital will reset downwards for the country.

4. There will be a significant negative wealth effect. Some percentage of this ₹ 15 lakh crore will get wiped out. Black money that is either simply burned, or loses 30-40 per cent as the cost of conversion to legitimate money. Wealth destruction is also inevitable in property, as prices fall and markets freeze. There will be a shock to high end-discretionary consumption.

5. There is likely to be some behavioural change as those parts of the economy relying on cash need to adjust. Individuals and business that were using large chunks of cash on a daily basis will take months to rebuild these cash levels given the limits on daily withdrawals. In the interim, they will have to adopt e-payments or cheques to stay in business. As their business moves into the formal economy, it will be difficult to reverse and the tax buoyancy of economic growth will improve for the government.

6. For the vast majority of Indians, those having less than ₹ 2.5 lakh in cash or agriculturalists, things will normalise in a few weeks. They will simply need to wait till they can get the new notes. For these people, it is largely a logistical issue of note replacement.

7. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be in trouble. Many are doing business entirely in cash. Demonetisation, combined with goods and services tax (GST), will kill their business model, which was dependent on tax and labour arbitrage. Many sectors will see large market share gain for the organised players. Lenders to the unorganised sector will need to stress test their exposures; there may be far greater credit issues here than investors are modelling.

8. Expect more measures to tackle the flow (fresh creation) of black money. Demonetisation handles the stock problem. Once the short-term logistics around cash replacement are fixed, expect new restrictions on use of cash and continued curbs on cash withdrawals. These steps will continue to force behavioural change.

9. I am frankly quite amazed as to the extent of cash in the system and its all pervasiveness. It seems that there is no supply chain untouched, and even large organised players need to deal with cash. There are many segments of the economy which operate only on cash. Whether demonetisation works or not, we have to attack this cash and the mindset. That much is certain.

Category: Daily

About Bramesh

Bramesh Bhandari has been actively trading the Indian Stock Markets since over 15+ Years. His primary strategies are his interpretations and applications of Gann And Astro Methodologies developed over the past decade.

3 thoughts on “Demonetization-What is Clear

  1. Gil Bandy

    I think the adjustment would be much faster. If the attack on black money is relentless (like benanmi properties and also control on purchase and sale of gold) then people will get the message that there are no choices. But if the labor arbitrage that you are talking about is gone, just cutting the interest rates are not enough, Government has to use all this bonanza much more wisely like starting many new infrastructure projects in the private sector participation soonest. So that this slack is taken up.Can the Government do that? The parallel economy was employing so many people. If the construction sector is at stand still, then what happens to this people. Moral of the story – short term disruption is fine. But has the Government planned a longer term follow through? Thanks

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