PUNE: Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj questioned whether demonetisation had achieved its aims while applauding the government for implementing the goods and services tax ( GST ).“It is questionable if it (demonetisation) really worked,” he told Bajaj Auto shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in Pune on Thursday. “For two months, people had to stand in line, at ATMs, bank branches and small and medium enterprises suffered.”The government announced the withdrawal of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes on November 8 last year in order to combat black money, corruption, counterfeits and terror financing. The move was also aimed at creating a less-cash economy, the government said.“Demonetisation was a favourite (topic) of our PM, no one criticises it… People voted for him (in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections) still, saying it is just a short-term pain for long-term gain,” he said. “All the economists are waiting for that gain to come. I don’t see that yet.”Bajaj said he wasn’t sure whether the exercise has reined in the parallel economy. “It was said the black money is out, RBI is still not able to count,” he said.“It was said the big black marketeers will suffer, industrialists will suffer, his intention was good, we will have to gain in longterm but nobody suffered. It was mere adjustments, gains we are (still) waiting for.”Bajaj praised the government for implementing GST.“It is very different with GST. It will be good for India, medium term, long term, India will gain,” he said. “Unlike demonetisation, which was a disaster, (where) overnight people had big challenges. I am sure there was no problem with GST. I have not heard of any problem so far, but they will take three-six months to settle down.”In his letter to shareholders, Bajaj said the outlook on the economy is still uncertain.“I thought of starting with encouraging news about India's economic growth in 2016-17, but as I started looking at the latest evidence, it didn't seem as encouraging as I believed it might be,” he said.According to Bajaj, three factors played a key role in dampening growth. “The first is a lack of significant investments over the last four to five years. The second related to private sector investments which were linked to the state of our banks, especially many of those under governments ownership.” The third factor was the temporary negative effect of demonetisation.