We'll never know whether demonetisation was a disaster or a boon

In the end, it's clear that the note ban decision threw up only two clear winners: politically, the BJP and commercially, the digital economy

Five years ago on this day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stunned the country by announcing that he was demonetising the Indian currency from midnight. What happened after that has been fully documented. So there’s no need to revisit all that.

But despite the extensive coverage and analysis, there is still no clarity as to why Mr Modi decided to demonetise. There are two distinct schools of thought.

One says it was to rid the country of black money. The other says it was to deprive the Opposition of cash in the run up to the Uttar Pradesh election due in