So far I have been a silent spectator of ongoings, but since @Wendell and Ryan have mentioned this topic at least a couple of times on the Level1..uhm, "News" (Come on, call it "Off the rails" already), I felt I should chime in and provide some of my views on the matter.
I put the title within quotes for a reason, I do not believe that India is willing, or even capable of moving away from cash, anytime soon.
Let's talk about infrastructure. How much of the Indian population has access to reliable, fast internet? Not a lot. So there goes Internet banking, not to mention the fact that the entire debit card system, "Rupay" is quite crippled. I needed to get a credit card just so that I could purchase games on Steam, and that too required jumping through hoops.
Most small to middle scale stores don't even accept cards. VISA, Mastercard, doesn't matter. They don't even have a machine.
So, what exactly happened at the ground level when Rs 500 & 1000 currency denominations were scrapped?
Chaos, confusion and shortage. The result, long queues outside ATMs. Most of them were shut down and only a few government banks kept their machines operational. Rs 100, the largest bill that remained in use, is a really small currency denomination (<2 USD) so as you can imagine, there was an acute shortage of bills in several places, that too, at a time when everybody needed to withdraw cash, as their older bills were useless and had to be deposited at a bank. (I'm not even going to talk about the queues in banks)
I, personally, live at a state capital with hundreds of ATMs and still had to travel more than 5 kms once to get cash; and would have had to travel further if I wanted to use my card for shopping. I don't plan on driving several kilometers to a supermarket every time I need to get some groceries. Still, it wasn't a big deal for me here, but an inconvenience none the less, and I can only imagine what the situation would be like in sub-urban and rural areas.
Also, this is not a major change in terms of currency form, since larger denominations of cash aren't going away. New Rs 2000 and 500 bills are being introduced as a replacement. So the entire episode seems more like a gimmick to me, than anything else. Creates a lot of noise but has little real impact in terms of currency. Sure, it may deter some black money hoarders, but I doubt if much is really going to change; and let's not forget, most of the black money of this country is locked up in foreign (Swiss) banks. I doubt if any real big league crooks are going out of business.
How do I view it?
Just another annoying hoop to jump through, with little foresight or benefit to justify the inconvenience.
P.S : It should go without saying that I am not an economist or expert on these matters. What I have mentioned above is just an account of my experience with a few thoughts and facts added in there.