Apologies for delay in response.. work firefights >>What do you think happens to the 60/40 real estate transactions after this? > A more interesting what happe

Apologies for delay in response.. work firefights >>What do you think happens to the 60/40 real estate transactions after this? > A more interesting what happens to all those expensive flats your dearly middle class bought? > My guess is nothing much will likely change in the Real Estate domain 5-6 years from now unless there is mass fall > in demand due to something like a multi year recession. I have many friends in real estate construction business & one thing they agree on is over next few years RE is fked. the folks who bought RE over last few years are screwed too especially first time buyers BUT thats a by product of a step change in any system & at any point if you take black money out thats inevitable (unless they start doing the wallstreet MBS thing). But one good thing is that housing will become a lot more affordable to little guy & not just some deep pocket businessfolks or NRIs. Secondly with so much cash surplus interest rates will head downwards so that will be a relief for the white buyer. Also, there is a bit of feedback loop here (like SV housing) if there is a reasonable certainty that RE is held up by money thats not subject to usual market forces (as much) then in absence of other avenues people will park even their white money there (hence the 60/40). but if this assumption changes, RE will also not be as good an investment as previously deemed. >>In fact I thought as a side effect this would be great time for cryptocurrencies in India. > I thought you wanted accountability and traceability. Anonymity seems to be the cornerstone for cryptocurrencies. I try to keep my analysis separate from my wants. secondly things like bitcoin are not nearly as anonymous are you think, infact quite the opposite. its true that you can create a truly anon cyptocoin (like darkcoin) but far as india is concerned its too late for that. if there was one already proliferated the market with decent cap then ppl may have jumped on it but to create one from scratch and everybody buys into it .. nah > You can't force people to be honest, nor force them to be dishonest. They will do whatever is in their best interest. its a matter of degrees not black & white as you are pretending it to be. your argument is basically that if you cannot solve the problem fully then dont try. I see it as a matter of policy actions so you set right incentives for ppl so far the incentives have been pointing only in one direction What I see here is that he is clearly signalling thats going to change going fwd. In 60yrs since independence how many time somebody has seriously tried to go after black money. > This thing got discussed over last time too. The very assumption that every one has a bank account. Or should have a bank account is broken beyond explanation. If you have a few lacs of cash then stands to reason that you should have an account. even otherwise actually there are many rural programmes in india that payout small recurring sums to villagers and its very common that since these ppl dont have an account they get fleeced by middle man and lose a big chunk due to cash only nature. these folks are actually benefited quite a bit by such mandates.