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Sunitha Natti, a senior business journalist, is a non-resident Fellow for The India Center in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida. Below, Natti provides an update on India\u2019s economy: <\/em><\/p>\n Nov. 8 was a historic day for the world in general, and for the United States and India in particular. If president-elect Donald Trump\u2019s unexpected victory hogged headlines, India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi shocked the nation with his audacious move to junk two high-value currency notes overnight. The denominations \u2013 Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 (approximately $7.50 and $15.00, respectively) \u2013 comprise 86 percent of the country\u2019s total currency in circulation, and their withdrawal instantly sucked out liquidity, choking businesses and everyday life.<\/p>\n The target was to unearth black money (an estimated one-third of the GDP is said to be in India\u2019s parallel economy), boost taxable income, reduce corruption, weed out counterfeit currency and cut funding to terror outfits. But the suddenness of the move caused panic and an economic morass.<\/p>\n For now, the nation\u2019s 1.3 billion population is pledging support to withstand a temporary cash crunch, but if inconvenience and uncertainty are prolonged, there will be immense economic distress, which could cost Modi his political career. Initial estimates peg a nominal slowdown in the world\u2019s fastest growing economy over the next two quarters. But economists believe the government\u2019s frontal attack on black money, which is unprecedented in scale, will produce short-term disruptions that far outweigh its benefits. For one, real estate, known for its huge cash deals, is undergoing a remarkable correction. The financial services landscape is also evolving, as the country\u2019s roughly 15 million merchants brace up for cashless transactions, raising the bar for accountability and transparency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunitha Natti, a senior business journalist, is a non-resident Fellow for The India Center in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida. Below, Natti provides an update on India\u2019s economy: Nov. 8 was a historic day for the world in general, and for the United States and India in particular. If president-elect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":23950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5424],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-india-center"],"yoast_head":"\n