‘Demonetisation move to checkmate counterfeit’

“To create a nation of substance for future generations, we have to go through some pain,” emphasised Sadhguru, the founder of Isha Foundation, making a strong pitch for the government’s demonetisation move.

For too long, India has been on the “threshold” of tapping its potential without actually doing so. Such a situation cannot be allowed to continue. More than 60 per cent of the economy is under the radar, not that all of it is illegal but includes small and unorganised businesses that simply do not realise there responsibilities and obligations.

“It is time we pull the economy above the ground. But, it is not going to be easy. There will be a certain level of pain, especially for businesses like construction and jewellery which run under the radar,” he said at an interaction organised by the Chennai International Centre jointly with the Isha Foundation.

At the interaction “In Conversation with the Mystic” led by Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman & MD, TVS Capital Funds and Raju Venkatraman CEO & MD, Medall Healthcare, on Sunday, Sadhguru covered a range of topics, including business, ethics, institution building, spiritualism and religion. He held the audience in thrall for an hour-and-a-half as he responded to questions from the audience on a range of subjects.

More than the black money, he said, it was the “unacceptable” levels of counterfeit in circulation which had made the government take the drastic step of declaring ₹ 500 and ₹ 1,000 notes no longer legal tender earlier this month, he said.

The counterfeit currency were being printed abroad in government mints which at one time had been contracted to print Indian currency. Even banks here are not able to distinguish them from regular currency, he said. “This action was taken to checkmate counterfeit,” he asserted.

Demonetisation may address a one-fifth of the black money problem but the major benefit will be from bringing into the tax net at least 30-40 per cent of the businesses that are not on the radar. This will mean India’s $ 3 trillion economy becomes $ 4 trillion.

For “transformation, India needs this forceful action or it cannot get out of the pit and will continue as it has done in the last few decades,” he said.

He conceded that business laws needto be simplified for greater compliance. “We need experts to decipher our laws” and sometime even they do not understand all of it. “By design or default, we have created too many ambiguous laws,” he said.

Also, in most other countries, people get tangible benefits for paying taxes. But, in India, the citizens have to fend for themselves whether for water or electricity. The present government is trying to change that. This calls for determination.

Businesses too tend to avoid tax and the “concept of sharing with the government has not sunk in,” he felt.

With more than half the population in farming, innovative business models linked to farmers are needed to make agriculture more profitable, Sadhguru said.