Whilst the US Election was ongoing, the Indian Prime Minister announced that 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes would be withdrawn overnight as part of a crackdown on corruption and illegal cash holdings - the intention being to lock out 'black money' which may have been acquired corruptly, or be being withheld from the tax authorities.
India is a cash economy, with 80% of its currency in 1,000 and 500 rupee notes, so you can imagine the impact this had on local people. There were queues at banks everywhere as people lined up to exchange their notes.
It also had a pretty big impact on us, as tourists, as we had no warning, and suddenly no-one would accept our cash. ATMs didn't work either. The only option for us was to exchange the notes at the airport. It certainly reduced my ability to shop for souvenirs. Fortunately I have my photographs and my memories. Just a shame I didn't get any of that Christmas shopping done out there!
Oh no! I did see that on the knew & the chaos it created. Such a shame you weren't able to buy some souvenirs & shop for Christmas. I plan to have a good browse through all your India photos when i have a bit of time up my sleeve 😉
@leggzy Ha ha it took us a while to work out what was going on. There was complete confusion as it obviously had to be a surprise action or it wouldn't work. My husband was frustrated as all he wanted to find out about was the result of the US election and all he could find were news channels about Indian money - we had no idea of the significance until a day or two later!
What a juxtaposition of world events, and to be caught in the middle of it! I'm guessing the election here wiped out the news of their economic issues. I was in Indonesia teaching when in the middle, the government suddenly devalued their currency by 50%. It was awful to watch the impact on local citizens as their savings and spending power were suddenly lost.
Didn't catch this on the news - definitely would catch you off guard while traveling and put a crimp in your shopping! Do like the way you showed this.
