Rs. 500, 1000 Ban: PM Narendra Modi Loses 3 Lakh Twitter Followers
Within a day of announcing a ban on Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have lost over three lakh followers on Twitter.
According to Twitter analytics website Twittercounter, Narendra Modi’s Twitter account (@narendramodi) lost 3,13,312 followers a day after the currency ban announcement was made. However, there was again a big rise in the follower count soon afterwards; the account @narendramodi, has over 24.3 million followers on the social platform at present.
As part of sweeping steps to check black money, Modi on November 8 announced that Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes will cease to be legal tender from November 9. The Prime Minister said in a televised address that all the 500 and 1,000 denomination notes can be deposited in banks and post offices between November 10 and December 30.
India’s nascent digital payments industry has been lauded the move, with many hoping that this step will lead the country into an era when cash is not as dominant as it has been so far.
E-commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal have suspended cash on delivery option for orders placed on their platforms soon after the announcement; Snapdeal even offered a 10 percent discount on online payments. FreeCharge announced the launch of a Wallet on Delivery service, while Paytm and MobiKwik said they have similar plans.
There is a lot of uncertainty around the new Rs. 500 and Rs. 2,000 currency notes; in fact, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had to debunk the rumour about nano-GPS tracking chips in the Rs. 2,000 notes, something that had been doing the rounds on WhatApp.
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