Abstract The Indian demonetizations of November 2016 came at an entirely new scale to those of January 1946 and January 1978. This time around, the Narendra Modi government's measures applied to 86.4% of the banknotes and coins in circulation, the equivalent to 11% of GDP. Much analysis has been undertaken on the demonetization. This has largely been critical because of its disastrous consequences on local populations and the most deprived among them. Our paper adopts a different angle: it argues that demonetization has had a key impact on the digitalization of payments. We use data from the Reserve Bank of India from 2014 to 2020 to show that the demonetization period brought about a decline in Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) withdrawals. It equally boosted the adoption of digital means of payments, via Point of Sale Terminals (POS) and mobile banking. Since October 2016, the number of POS transactions has risen almost threefold, while the number of ATM transactions has decreased by almost one-fifth. The current government's rhetoric is to promote digitalization as a means of both formalizing the economy and protecting the poor. Its claim is unfortunately highly debatable.

中文翻译：

---

非货币化和数字化：印度政府的隐藏议程

摘要 与 1946 年 1 月和 1978 年 1 月相比，印度 2016 年 11 月的非货币化以全新的规模出现。这一次，纳伦德拉·莫迪政府的措施适用于流通中的纸币和硬币的 86.4%，相当于 GDP 的 11% . 对非货币化进行了大量分析。这在很大程度上是至关重要的，因为它对当地人口和其中最贫困的人造成了灾难性的后果。我们的论文采用了不同的角度：它认为非货币化对支付的数字化产生了关键影响。我们使用印度储备银行 2014 年至 2020 年的数据表明，非货币化时期导致自动柜员机 (ATM) 取款下降。它同样促进了数字支付方式的采用，通过销售点终端 (POS) 和手机银行。自 2016 年 10 月以来，POS 交易数量增长了近三倍，而 ATM 交易数量减少了近五分之一。当前政府的言论是促进数字化，将其作为经济正规化和保护穷人的一种手段。不幸的是，它的说法是很有争议的。