When the TV went silent at RBI

Many questions have been asked about the role of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the business of notebandi, regarding the operational snafus on note exchange, the hopeless shortage of new currency notes, defects in the new currency notes (for which RBI seems to blame the government), and so on. What has not come out so far is what happened when RBI summoned leading bankers for a session at its Mint Road headquarters in Mumbai, on the evening of the notebandi announcement. Sundry subjects were discussed in desultory fashion, then at the appointed hour the deputy governor holding the meeting simply turned on the TV set in the room so that the assembled bankers could listen to the Prime Minister. Except that the TV set’s sound system did not work! People scurried around, until an official finally got the sound on his mobile phone and amplified it through a computer so that the assembled bankers could hear the PM.