The disruption that demonetisation has brought to the life of the average Delhiite doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of abating any time soon.
Standing in queues outside banks has become a way of life, curtailing expenses for want of cash is a virtue, and lack of hope in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of the situation expected to take a turn for the better in 50 days is now a shared vision.
Bleak economic scenario
From small neighbourhood shops to retail businesses at popular markets, and from housewives to senior executives, demonetisation continues to worry everyone as the end of what could be the most taxing financial quarter approaches.
In fact, the market fears that the current bleak economic scenario will continue for at least three more months.
Housewives, meanwhile, are still struggling to settle their housemaids’ dues as retailers confront minimal to zero daily sales in the midst of the usually hectic marriage season. All this due to the sudden lack of liquidity that took everyone by surprise on November 8.
Businesses hit
Orders placed at wholesale retail chains are either being cancelled by customers who are unable to pay or by business owners for whom procuring raw material, labour and other logistics have become a major challenge.
Jewellers, meanwhile, continue to down shutters at major markets due to apprehensions of being harassed by tax authorities.
As a city, Delhi is known to show-off its wealth. But now, with not much cash in hand, the city seems to have gone on an austerity drive.
Most middle-class households are only spending on basic necessities such as vegetables, milk and groceries. Shopping and eating out has taken a hit, despite more people turning to plastic money and many others discovering e-wallets.
Vacations and expenditure on luxury items, however, are out of question for most. For the lower middle class, however, the going has been tough.
Making ends meet
The poor and the homeless, most of whom are out of the ambit of banking and plastic money, are struggling to make ends meet. According to the Delhi government’s estimate, nearly 40 per cent of the city’s labour force has left the Capital after finding no work for days.
For many of the working class, living in the city without work means eking out money for rent and food. For them, returning to their villages, which they had left in hope for a better life in the metropolis, seems to be a better option.
For a city that is not usually known for its patience, Delhiites have shown a lot of stoicism in dealing with the cash crunch. Most residents have stood in queues outside banks and ATMs for hours to withdraw their own hard-earned money.
For now, the focus is on the last 20-odd days of the 50 days of pain people were told about. This, despite the unlikely scenario that life will return to normal as the New Year approaches.
