Citizen rating of Demonetisation Implementation continues its steady decline

New Delhi, December 21,2016 : The pain that citizens have felt due to demonetisation is showing up across the country. Almost 68% of the citizens polled on LocalCircles in an online poll say that the implementation has been bad. The rating for the implementation process has continously declined with it being 51% ten days after the announcement. It was 39% a week ago and this week it has fallen to 32%. Only 32% citizens now feel the Demonetisation implementation has been good. Over 9000 citizens participated in this poll from over 220 districts of India.

People have faced problems in withdrawing cash both from bank branches and ATMs. Initially the ATMs were not configured to release the Rs 2000 notes, but now the banks claim most ATMs are ready. Though the limit on withdrawal of cash from both the branches and ATMs continues to be a pain point for citizens. People also have to withdraw frequently because the rotation of cash in the system has slowed down, due to hoarding of the 2000 rupee note. The availability of the new 500 rupee note is also poor. In a related LocalCircles poll, 68% said they have not received the new 500 rupee note.

Citizens are rushing around the city to find out which ATMs have cash and then have to wait for hours for withdrawing Rs 2000. Banks have limited the withdrawal to ensure more people can get money.

With just ten days left for people to convert demonetized currency, only 32% of the citizens now call the demonetisation implementation as good. This means that the bulk of the population has felt pain due to bad implementation. While the survey covers 220 districts of urban India, the problem is likely to be higher in rural areas, due to poor banking/ATM infrastructure. Around 28% of the people say that a good cause has been ruined by bad strategy and implementation.