Two days after the shock news that 86 per cent of India’s cash by value was being scrapped overnight, a full-page advertisement by a prominent digital payments business appeared on the front of several national newspapers.
“Paytm congratulates Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on taking the boldest decision in the financial history of independent India!” it read, accompanied by a full-length picture of the smiling leader.
With queues snaking for hundreds of metres outside banks as people attempted to bank their savings, and poorer workers complaining of being unable to pay for food, the advert was met by a hail of criticism. But it also highlighted how Mr Modi’s decision will buoy some of the country’s fastest-growing financial technology companies.