Wholesalers suffer as cash shortages drag on
DELHI: Major wholesalers at the largest fruit and vegetable market, here, which serves most of the capital’s nearly 17 million people, are planning to sell their products at bargain prices in order to move perishable stock as the impact of India’s cash shortages continues to bite.
Sales were down by as much as 50 per cent at Azadpur Mandi, said traders, while the price of some fruit had fallen by as much as 25 per cent since Prime Minister Narendra Modi shocked the nation with the withdrawal of large denomination notes last week.
Eight days since Modi’s announcement, there was no sign the government had managed to print enough notes to replace its withdrawal of 86 per cent of currency in circulation.
The government was falling far short of meeting people’s requirements for 100-rupee (RM6.50) notes, said Finance Ministry officials, admitting they were not in a position to fill the gap any time soon. Only 2,000-rupee notes were circulating in good numbers, they said.
Adding to the chaos were rumours the government was planning to announce further measures. However, state-run Press Information Bureau said talk of plans to demonetise smaller notes was a myth.
About 25 per cent of the business was done by cash and the majority of the cash business had vanished, said fruit trader Ashok Kumar.
“We are sitting almost idle. I have asked my suppliers to reduce supplies. There are no buyers in the market. These are perishable and we can’t store them for long.”
Less than an hour’s drive from
EPA pic here, the situation was no better.
Tempers frayed as farmers and day labourers stood in long lines outside banks, while inside fights broke out over the slow pace of currency exchange.
Not a single functioning automated teller machine appeared to be operating between here and Chithera, across the border in Uttar Pradesh.
Fuel stations were empty and in the nearby customs yard, thousands
of fresh fruits and vegetables as cash shortages of lorries were stranded, their drivers sitting in groups playing cards.
They said they had been unable to work for a week because transport company owners could not get cash from the banks to buy fuel or pay their 100-rupee daily allowance for food. Their business depended heavily on wads of the now-banned 500-rupee notes, they said.
People abused guards at Dadri’s Bank of Baroda office, while nearby
policemen did little to break up a scuffle in the unruly queue outside.
Most men in the lines said they were daily wage workers who had no choice but lose a day’s pay in order to access a small amount of money.
Since November 8, more than 30 people have lost their lives because of heart attacks while waiting in line or from suicides related to the stress of accessing cash, the Indian Express reported on Wednesday. Bloomberg