Some may call it a "master stroke", others a "surgical strike" and even others may see this as a political stunt, coming a few months before crucial state elections in India. But whatever the reason, the demonetisation of Rs 500/1000 will have a major impact on the Indian economy.
With one decisive announcement on the night of November 8, the Indian PM Narendra Modi made an estimated $217 billion worth of Indian currency notes completely redundant. All Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes have been demonetised - it is estimated that these notes formed 86% of all the Indian currency notes that were being used India until Nov 8.
Citizens are heavily inconvenienced in the short term, but have begun exchanging their old high denomination notes for new ones from banks and post offices. They can only get Rs 4,000 a day because of a shortfall in new currency notes.
We asked the Indian High Commissioner in Canberra, Mr Navdeep Suri about what options are available to people living overseas, who maybe holding the scrapped notes.
We also asked him about the effect of this "surgical strike" on the overall Indian economy, and its possible effect on upcoming state elections in India, including Punjab.
Hear Mr Suri's answers, in this interview...
