Criticism over demonetisation appears to have put the government in an overdrive. It recently moved to cancel registrations of over two lakh shell companies and disqualify three lakh people serving as directors in these companies. Government officials have been insinuating that many of these shell companies were used to deposit vast quantities of cash during demonetisation. To buttress this claim further, new data has been provided; 35,000 such companies deposited and withdrew cash to the tune of `17,000 crore via 58,000 accounts after demonetisation. But the government is yet to prove that the money is unaccounted for, thus justifying the deregistration of so many firms.
Dipak Mondal