“Demonetisation has made banks flush with funds, and they will lend it to productive sectors.” — Power Minister Piyush Goyal, November 26, 2016. It won’t be quite as easy as Goyal said.

Rising non-performing assets (NPAs) and sluggish economic growth sparked a 60% decline in corporate borrowing over the last six years, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, inhibiting the anticipated lending bonanza to companies from banks after demonetisation. Now, after the government scrapped 86% of India’s ...