In his first-ever interview, Patel was however forceful in his own way when he told PTI that the demonetisation was “once in a lifetime event” and he was taking all necessary steps to “ease the genuine pain of citizens who are honest and who have been hurt”.
From steering the monetary policy deliberations amid frantic calls for rate cuts to mounting the necessary mechanism for a daily monitoring of demonetisation move to keeping printing presses up and running to print replacement notes for scrapped ones — it has been a bit too hectic for Patel since he took charge on September 4.
While Rajan is known to have opposed the idea of demonetisation, especially to fight blackmoney, Patel urged the people to start using cash substitutes like debit cards and digital wallets, saying it will make transactions cheaper and easier and in the long term will help India “leapfrog into a less cash-use economy at par with more developed nations”
