Andy Mukherjee

The manner in which the central bank is retiring the 2,000 rupee bill has reignited memories of the monumental disaster of demonetization in 2016.

India's decision to withdraw its ?2,000 banknote is causing frustration for consumers, firms and banks, with comparisons being made to the 2016 demonetisation experiment. While the withdrawal of the ?2,000 note is not as significant as the previous effort, with it accounting for only 11% of the currency in circulation, the way in which the notes are being taken out of circulation is causing unease. Some small firms and petrol stations are refusing to take the notes, while the presence of a deadline for withdrawal is making people nervous. The move has also prompted some banks to ask for identity proof from walk-in clients.

The de-dollarization project is counting on blockchain technology to end the greenback’s hegemony. The hope may be misplaced.

When it comes to carrying value across illiquid currency corridors, the dollar is a sturdy mule. The enormous coordination and trust it will require to first create a global digital public good, and then agree on its ownership and governance, makes digital currencies a non-starter

The US dollar's hegemony, which is based on the currency's dominant role in fundraising and international commerce, is unlikely to be challenged by the proposed petroyuan or a common currency for the BRICS grouping. However, blockchain technology may be able to eliminate the need for the dollar as a middleman in illiquid currency corridors, reducing transaction costs by up to $120bn a year. While the coordination and trust required to create a multicurrency central bank digital currency network makes the idea unfeasible, the New York Federal Reserve has shown that a wholesale token of the US currency could be used to preserve its exceptionalism.

A stalled chipmaking plan is casting doubt on a costly industrial policy campaign. Will subsidies only create low-end jobs that add little value?

India's $10 billion plan to produce semiconductors is under threat, potentially exposing a fault line in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign for greater economic self-reliance. Critics argue that the success of India's smartphone manufacturing industry is a hollow claim, created by low-end assembly-line jobs with expensive state subsidies and protectionist import duties. The government is expected to reject incentives for a proposed 28-nanometer chip unit, which would make sense only as a quick pathway to more sophisticated production. The PLI program, a $24 billion subsidy scheme, is also under scrutiny.

Having drawn a blank in its probe of opaque foreign investors in Adani, the regulator has proposed new disclosures by overseas funds. It won’t be an easy cleanup.

India's Securities and Exchange Board is proposing to track foreign money to its source in an effort to rescue its credibility. The watchdog is investigating 13 opaque entities in Mauritius and Cyprus that hold between 14% and 20% in five publicly traded stocks of the Adani Group. The regulator's plan is rules-based, leaving pension pools and public funds untouched, but judging everyone else as high risk. If their local portfolios are bigger than INR250bn ($3bn) or have more than 50% concentration in any one Indian business group, they have to provide granular data.

A lower public debt burden may pave the way for the island’s revival after last year’s default. Restructuring is getting needlessly delayed.