On November 8, 2016, at 8:15 pm, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India unexpectedly announced that the two most common types of banknotes – the ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes, worth about $8 and $15, respectively – would cease to be legal tender beginning at midnight. Together, these two banknotes accounted for over 86 percent of all bank notes in circulation by value (RBI 2016, 89). The government’s stated reasons for the abrupt move, which came to be known as “demonetization,” were several: to make illegally obtained stashes of cash (so-called “black money”) useless; to combat counterfeiters, terrorists, and other criminals who relied upon cash; and to encourage Indians to open bank accounts