Note ban: Problem penetrates to grassroots-level

Kochi: Economic activities at the grassroots level in the state have come to a halt due to currency shortage even as the official machinery failed to ensure adequate supply of currency notes on Friday despite the reopening of the ATMs which were closed for two days. Rubber farmers, spice cultivators and a slew of other retail merchants are disgruntled as they are unable to trade their products and goods as most traders are keeping away due to shortage of currency. Customers flocked to ATM counters in the morning but, returned disappointed as many ATMs did not have enough cash.

Most ATM counters also declined to accept the cards of other banks. Although bank officials said the issue would be sorted out by afternoon, customers were seen crowding around ATM counters till late in the evening. The ATM Counter adjoining the branch of a prominent new generation bank in Kaloor-Kadavanthara Road remained closed at 6 pm. A bank official said that the money was over and customers could use it only on Saturday.  Lack of proper information flow from official sources compounded the problems, say observers. Speaking to this newspaper on Friday, Philips Abraham, a wholesale grain merchant at Broadway Market in Ernakualm, said the problem had been accentuated by perception.

“Many people don’t realize that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations are still valid and banks will accept them till December 31”, he said. There is no restriction in depositing any amount as long as a person can show the source of the money, he said, and added in case of outstanding credit the record has to be shown. The activities in the market however remained dull for the last three days due to the uncertainties created by the currency shortage, he added.

Latheef Atheri, a wholesale rice dealer at Valliyangadi in Kozhikode said he was supplying grains to regular customers on temporary credit. Mr. Atheri however said that the volume of business came down by nearly 30 per cent in the market for the past two days. The situation is also similar in the case of spice traders in the high range districts of Idukki and Wayanad. The curbs imposed on cash transactions have hit the spice traders of Wayanad. The most affected are the areca traders. Anil Kottaram a spice trader in Sulthan Bathery  told DC that the designers of the reform should have considered the plight of traders.

Blow to daily-wage workers

The much touted move against black money has hit the most vulnerable sections of society such as daily-wage workers, petty traders, taxi and auto drivers and persons running small eateries. The delay in increasing the currency supply of lower denominations is the main reason for the situation. Auto drivers are one of the worst hit as the people hiring the vehicles came down by nearly 50 per cent in the past two days. “The auto drivers have taken up the issue with the union as they are not getting enough customers,” said V.V. Praveen, a member of the state executive committee of the Auto-rickshaw Drivers Association.

K.R. Saji, an auto-rickshaw driver operating in Palarivattom in Ernakulam complained that people who do not have enough currency of smaller denominations choose not to hire a three- wheeler. The ATMs have not enough money and people have little reserve of small denomination notes. “People are keeping whatever little money they have for essential goods and services,” he said. The average earning in the past two days was around Rs 300 per day against more than Rs 1,000 they earn before the government introduced demonetisation.

Mohammed Jamsheel from Jharkhand, a street vendor at SM Street in Kozhikode, said business was hit in the past few days. “I did not have the money to give the change to the customers and customers also lacked the money to buy the products I sold,” he said. “I feel that it would take at least month for the business to get back its normalcy.” S.Sivakumar of Gavi who runs a tea stall in Thiruvananthapuram said his business has been reduced by 25 per cent in spite of having hundreds of daily customers.

“People don't seem to have change. I still have most of the milk I have purchased as the demand for tea has come down. People buy only snacks.” Mary Philomena who sells fish in Tirumala market also shared a similar opinion. “Normally, the seer fish I bring to the market sold out in no time,” she said. “But today I am still left with a piece of seer fish worth Rs 550. Business has gone for a toss.” The fish vendors in the wholesale market of Champakkara in Kochi are also worried by the lack of business on Friday.