What is Demonetization? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay On November 8, 2016, the Government of India announced that 500 and 1000 rupee notes will be a null currency from today onwards. Around 86% of India's total currency is in the form of 500 and 1000 rupee notes and a step like demonetisation brings our economy into a chaotic situation. Demonetization was planned more than 6 months before its execution and was kept confidential by 10 people including our Prime Minister and Finance Minister. The Indian public has been asked to deposit all their old cash by December 31, 2016 in nearby banks and POs. Apart from canceling the currency, our government introduced new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 and urged people to move in the direction of a cashless economy. Our country is 90% dependent on paper money and a step like demonetisation has brought the country into a chaotic situation. The total currency on October 28 of the same year was valued at ₹17.77 trillion. The printing of the new currency started around May 2016. With the reduction of cash transactions, alternative payment methods such as e-wallet apps, digital transaction systems, plastic money (debit and credit cards) etc. were found . Demonetization has helped increase the demand for all mobile wallet companies. The mobile wallet brought transparency into the system and made it easier to track money transactions online. After the government announced demonetisation, e-wallet companies like Paytm launched a massive and relentless advertising campaign. Mobile wallets have become a new trend in India and companies like Paytm wanted most of this trend, Paytm, a company owned by One 97 Communications, gained most profit from demonetization. Every vendor, petrol station, auto rickshaw etc. accepted Paytm cash. The number of people using Paytm regularly increased by 435%, downloads on the Play Store doubled, and there was a 250% increase in transactions made and transaction value. Currently, more than 3 million shops in tier 1 and 2 cities have started accepting these e-wallet transactions. On the other hand the Indian government has started its own app called BHIM which helps in making electronic transfers between bank accounts without internet access. To use BHIM, users had to enter their 12-digit aadhar number. BHIM can work on any smartphone without Internet access. It was a booming era for all mobile wallet companies for the first two months post-demonetization (November-December), as RBI mobile wallets had a 34% market share of total payment protection insurance (PPI) transactions which amounted to around 170 million in December 2016, but in January the market share saw a decline of 1% to 33%, and then there was a sharp decline to 29% in February . Paytm was trying its best to increase its user base during its boom period by doing a lot of advertising through different channels like TV, newspapers etc. Paytm was downloaded in at least 17% of the total mobile population in early 2016. After banks adopted their own UPI apps for banking transactions, the usage of e-wallets subsequently declined. From February onwards, the number of transactions made via e-wallets decreased by 10% in the month.