India’s largest ever economic stimulus is upon us with the demonetisation of the nation’s most widely circulated currency notes. This certainly isn’t the first attempt at demonetisation, but looks poised to be the most effective and well-planned one, in the light of a series of policy announcements over the last year that have now emerged as critical pieces of the big picture. Cognizant of the various opportunities presented by this mammoth move, as well as the narrowly veiled indication of more measures along these lines, organisations are displaying a very rare and nimble agility.

Businesses that rely on cashless modes of transaction are setting aside the rhetoric and moving on to action in a bid to draw in consumers. Other businesses, and indeed entire industries, that are traditionally driven by cash transactions are displaying knee-jerk reactions like extending line of credit to channel partners and gaining access to card machines etc.

Some of these quickly-cobbled-together measures will make way for genuine innovation with long-term implications. All-in-all, it is the Nielsen view that both consumers and industry are positively predisposed to the move; and as a nation we can expect a drop in inflation, an improvement in the national deficit and a largely clean business environment in the long term. This note summarises our insights into the developments and offers a guide on the best moves ahead for manufacturers, channel partners and digital commerce companies.