Demonetisation destroyed small businesses, created unprecedented unemployment and accelerated economic distress. Which is why, today, even the...

DMK president M.K. Stalin criticized the Union Government on the third anniversary of the 2016 demonetisation policy, characterizing the sudden invalidation of currency as an unmitigated economic disaster. Stalin noted that demonetisation destroyed thousands of small and micro businesses, wiped out daily livelihoods across informal sectors, generated unprecedented unemployment, and accelerated acute economic distress throughout the country.

Stalin highlighted that the disastrous outcomes of the policy have become so glaring that even the ruling central establishment now maintains absolute silence regarding its supposed benefits. None of the original justifications offered by the government—eradicating black money, suppressing counterfeit currency, or ending terrorism funding—were substantiated by empirical realities. Instead, ordinary wage earners, small traders, and agricultural communities were forced into severe economic distress and prolonged financial instability.

The DMK leader asked whether the central government will at least now acknowledge its monumental policy misstep and initiate meaningful interventions to revive the stagnant economy and generate employment. Stalin demanded that central policymakers shift focus toward empowering small enterprises and providing substantial fiscal stimulus to restore domestic manufacturing vitality, sustainable enterprise growth, and citizen welfare.