India has largely welcomed demonetisation: Jaitley

New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS) Indians have accepted the decision to demonetise higher value currency and are cooperating in transforming the country’s economy and society, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

“People have been cooperating immensely with the demonetisation exercise and the country by-and-large has welcomed the decision,” Jaitley said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here.

“I don’t find any social unrest… The queues are by-and-large disciplined,” he said, referring to the lines outside banks and ATMs after the November 8 announcement.

“If you ask the person standing in queue about demonetisation, he or she is likely to say — I’m troubled, but am happy this decision has been taken,” Jaitley said.

He said that this patience being shown was guided by the long term benefits that would come from the decision.

Jaitley also called the demonetisation “the new normal” confronting black money which was the norm in India for seven decades.

“Black money has been a norm in India for seven decades, we want to confront it and create a new normal,” Jaitley said.

He said the demonetisation move would ensure that political funding to become “transparent”.

He said “We are at the cusp of change and the battle between the taxman and the people who try to beat the system will continue.”