Editorial Board

Modi's Setback on Black Money

Modi deserves credit for confronting the problem of illicit cash -- but he needs to rethink his approach.

January 11, 2017 at 11:00 PM UTC

By The Editorial Board

The Editorial Board publishes the views of the editors across a range of national and global affairs.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Photographer: DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images

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India's controversial decision to ban 500- and 1,000-rupee notes has backfired. The idea was to root out "black money" -- the profits of political corruption, tax evasion and ordinary crime. But efforts to get around the ban have been so effective that those problems may now be harder to solve than before.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi deserves credit for confronting the issue so boldly -- few of his predecessors even tried -- but he needs to rethink his approach.