Kolkata– French Nobel laureate Jean Tirole on Thursday said demonetisation “can’t catch much of corrupt money” although it will make corruption more difficult in the future.

“You cannot get the corrupt money right away because the money has already been invested in real estate, gold and other things,” the economist said at a lecture organised by Presidency University.

“It will make future corruption more difficult,” he said, when asked on demonetisation.

Cashless economy, according to him “is a good thing” but “it has to be ensured that poor people who are most dependent on cash do not suffer”.

Expanding on demonetisation, Tirole referred to similar attempts in Scandinavian countries but cautioned that situation in India is different.

“People want to get rid of cash for several reason and you see that in Scandinavia for example, Denmark and Sweden are trying to get rid of cash because it is more convenient. In India, the reason is to get rid of corruption,” he said. (IANS)