In his first reaction to the government’s demonetisation move, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy called it a well-intentioned move and said that it has the potential to reduce black money.

Murthy was speaking in an interview with CNN News 18.

It has several important objectives. First is to reduce funding for terrorists which no Indian can argue about, said Murthy.   

The second thing is this has the potential to reduce black money. It creates a little bit of confusion in the minds of those who deal in black money.

He added that in some way, in a very minor way, it is an encouragement to the digital economy.

People in urban India will bring out their balance sheets, income statements, revenue and expenditure statement. Lots of people in urban India will start thinking about moving to a digital economy. This will be a minor push.

He added that it provides a great opportunity for political parties to introduce reforms in areas of electoral funding and to demonstrate their commitment to clean politics. Leaders of political parties will come together to ensure that there is no dirty money involved in political campaigns and elections.

Ever since PM Modi announced the demonetisation move on November 8, serpentine queues have been witnessed outside banks to exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes and also outside ATMs to withdraw cash, which has led to a lot of chaos and confusion.