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‘Demonetisation is not the way to target black money’
New Delhi : Demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes may turn out to be a “futile exercise” to target black money and counterfeit currency, says Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) General Secretary Pradip Biswas.
“The proportion of counterfeit notes is only 0.028 per cent of the total currency in circulation according to Indian Statistical Institute. And the proportion of black money in liquid cash is less than 10 per cent,” Biswas told IANS in a telephone conversation.
“This (demonetisation) is not the way to target black money and counterfeit currency,” he added.
Biswas said since over 86 per cent of the total physical currency in the country is covered by Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, taking them out of circulation without sufficient measures to quickly replace them will severely affect the economy.
“How can we manage with just 13 per cent of cash, which is in 10, 20, 50 and 100 rupee notes, to replace 86 per cent of the currency which has been demonetised?”
Biswas had earlier said that it would take at least four to five months to print sufficient currency to replace around 22 billion demonetised notes even if all currency printing presses operate at their maximum capacity.
He added that things may get worse in the first week of December when people in formal as well as informal sectors have to draw their salaries.
“Even now, they cannot withdraw more than Rs 24,000 in a week. And banks are not able to satisfy you even with that limitation. They tell you to take Rs 4,000-5,000 because the supply of currency is not there.
“This will be a tremendous factor in the coming weeks,” he said.
Offering a word of caution against the temptation of going abroad for printing of notes to beat the crisis, Biswas said it will open avenues for pilferage of currency printing technology.
“There are opinions coming up in public debate that we should get the currency printed abroad. Given the circumstances one may think this is the need of the hour. But it will open up avenues for further printing of counterfeit notes,” he said.
“To print it somewhere else, you will have to pass on ink, dice and currency paper. What is the guarantee that the technology to print notes will not be transferred and compromised?”
“It will be time consuming as well. So I doubt it will have significant effect on the timeline anyway,” he added.
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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