Hyderabad: For cigarette, paan shops, all is well

Hyderabad: One of the few sectors that has apparently not been affected by demonetisation is cigarette and paan kiosks. For the first few days, these vendors faced problems but the business is up and running again.

Md Salahuddin, secretary general of the All India Paan Shop Owners Association, said, “Major paan shops have taken a hit. The business in paan mandi is slow, but kiosks near hotels and in lanes are flourishing because their business runs on small money.”

Mr Ramakrishna, owner of a paan shop at Secunderabad, said, “The main reason is addiction to cigarettes, paan, guthka and supari. Initially customers used to give us Rs 500 notes. The situation changed now and we get Rs 100 or smaller notes.”