At a time when most vendors are finding it difficult to move ahead with their business following demonetisation, some of them are taking the e-wallet route as a means to find a way out of the crisis.
With small businesses being badly hit and lower denomination notes continue to be in demand, those who have been running tiffin stalls and making a living selling gift articles, groceries and fruits have finally accepted technology to tide over the cash crunch.
Those, who are not-so-comfortable in using mobile apps, say they started transacting through Patym to keep the home fires burning. K. Mallesh of Sri Mallikarjuna tiffin parlour could never forget the day when he took charge as the owner of the counter. “It was on November 9, immediately following the demonetisation move. We never expected that the business would become worse for the next few weeks. We could not even pay the staff for a while. However, solace came in the form of Patym as we could do reasonably good business,” he says.
Youngsters, who step into SRK parlour appear to be relieved as they see a copy of the Quick Response code at the cash counter. “I have learnt to transact through the e-wallet and it has come in handy in times of need,” says Ch. Neelakantam, eatery owner.
Another entrepreneur Jaydeep Chauhan is also quick to adopt e-payment mode. “Though my gift shop has a swipe machine, those who like to transact below Rs.100 prefer to pay through e-wallet. Honestly, I have not lost any customer so far as they can use mobile wallets such as SBI Buddy or Andhra Bank’s mPay or Paytm at the shop,” he says.
Laxmi Narayana, fruit vendor, not only finds e-wallet a convenient solution to transact but also help him earn some brownie points. “I won ‘Dhruva’ movie ticket as part of the Paytm cash back offer. Technology changes so swiftly nowadays that it would alter by the time you blink your eyes so let us embrace it rather than resisting,” he says.
According to business head of Paytm (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) Vijaya Raghava Swaroop, digital transactions have grown four-fold in the recent past. “Merchant enrolments for mobile wallet from November 9 to December 22 in Andhra Pradesh touched 20,430 and in Visakhapatnam alone the count crossed 8,380 till now,” he mentions.
Small traders say they look forward to make digital transactions as long as no charges are levied.
