Could not understand logic behind demonetisation: Narayana Murthy

Kolkata :  Describing himself as “not an expert on economics”, Infosys co-founder and India’s IT industry doyen N R Narayana Murthy on Wednesday said he could not understand the logic behind the Narendra Modi government’s note ban move in November 2016, particularly when it remonetised the monetary system with same or even higher denomination currency notes.

He, however, felt the demonetisation move was largely welcomed by rural people but not by the urban intellectual.

“Though I am not expert, but as a lay person I saw that when, for some reason, old notes were demonetised, the government introduced new notes pretty quickly of the same denomination and even of higher denomination. Only an expert can answer why this happened. I cannot understand… you should talk to experts,” Murthy said at an interactive session with the students of Presidency University here.

Murthy further said, “I am not an expert in economics but I saw that urban intellectuals did not buy the idea of demonetisation, but a majority of rural Indians seemed to have welcomed it.”

Emphasising on striking a balance between automation and human beings, he said: “We can take a decision…we will not follow automation up to certain level of our manufacture or services.”

Murthy also stressed upon the transformation of culture and mindset of people of India before the economic transformation.

“There is a need for cultural transformation and that is more important than economic transformation. Unless there is cultural and mindset transformation, economic transformation cannot take place,” he said.

IANS