NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced that 500 and 1000 rupee banknotes would be withdrawn from the financial system at midnight, saying it was part of a crackdown on rampant corruption.
The surprise step appears to be designed to bring billions of dollars worth of cash in unaccounted wealth into the mainstream economy.
"Black money and corruption are the biggest obstacles in eradicating poverty," he said in an address to the nation.
New 500 and 2,000 rupee denomination notes will be issued later, he added.
(Reporting Neha Dasgupta and Nidhi Verma; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
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