Union Minister Arun Jaitley said the benefits of "remonetisation" is flowing into the system.
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, in his New Year message today, held out hope for the reform of indirect tax in 2017. Calling 2016 a "successful year" owing to the introduction of the government's flagship Goods and Services tax in parliament, he said, "There will be more money with the government and hence more to spend".
"There will be cheaper loans for farmers and the MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises)," he said. "I see 2017 as a year in which a combination of GDP with digitized economy with further growth of India," he added.
The "demonetisation reform", the minister said, has been completed in a successful manner and the "whole country has supported it".
In his address to the nation on the evening of December 31, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described the ban on high denomination currency, which withdrew 86 per cent of the currency from the system, as "a historic purification ritual" to cleanse the system of tax evasion and corruption.
Pointing out that had won huge support from the people, he said it would "play an important role in changing the direction of the nation in times to come".
Today, Mr Jaitley said the benefits of "remonetisation" are already "flowing into the system... the shadow economy is lost". There has been a change in the "spending habits of people," Mr Jaitley said, which, in turn, has boosted the lending capacity of banks.