Note ban led to growth of formal economy: Amit Shah

New Delhi: BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday said demonetisation has led to expansion of formal economy and brought black money into the government’s treasury which is being used for people’s benefit.

With demonetisation inviting fresh criticism from Opposition parties after RBI figures disclosed that over 99 per cent of banned notes were deposited with banks, Mr Shah told a FICCI meeting that the note ban was an example of the hard decisions the government had taken to boost the economy.

“I definitely believe that the formal economy has increased due to demonetisation. Money lying at various places is now part of the economy,” he said, adding that this government does not link policy decisions with vote bank.

Mr Shah said the number of total direct tax payers had doubled in the last three years from 3.7 crore to 6.4 crore and opening of 30 crore new bank accounts expanded the formal economy and linked every body with it.

He also asked the business community to “encash” the “Brand India” built by the government globally and claimed that the NDA dispensation’s most significant contribution was that it had transformed the “scale of thinking”.

Industrial sector should use this opportunity to expand globally, he said, mentioning African countries as having immense investment potential.

The Modi government was focusing on long-term goals rather than short-term gains, he said, adding that direct benefit transfers now reach 36 crore people from 8.5 crore in 2014 and saved over Rs 59,000 crore in subsidies. Earlier, this money would have disappeared due to corruption, he said

He also played down the dip in the GDP growth rate to 5.7 per cent in the last quarter, saying it was due to some “technical reasons” and added it had gone up to 7.1 per cent after falling to 4.7 per cent in 13-14 when the UPA was in power.

Mr Shah also touched upon the issue of banks’ non-performing assets.