The ongoing currency crisis has encouraged many small businesses to set up Point of Sale (PoS) machines or card-swipe machines, thus increasing their demand in Mysuru.
The Centre pushing for cashless economy is forcing businesses to switch over to cashless transactions sooner or later. Hotels and food businesses across Mysuru city have submitted applications to various banks seeking sanction of 150 PoS machines in a span of one week.
“Due to a spurt in demand for the machines, the waiting period has gone up. Earlier, such machines used to be supplied to the applicants in less than a week. Most banks are saying the machines are out of stock,” said Narayana Gowda, president, Mysuru Hotel Owners’ Association.
He told The Hindu that banks outsource the supply of machines to private firms, but the banks are the issuing authority. Besides hotels, even neighbourhood shops, including kirana stores, have started placing orders for PoS machines.
Banks foresee a further surge in demand as a step towards cashless economy. “Where can we go to get change every time customers hand out Rs. 2,000 for small purchases?” a shopkeeper asked.
Mysuru District Lead Bank manager K.N. Shivalingaiah said the demand for card-swipe machines had gone up and so had the use of debit cards for purchases. Earlier, banks had to promote the card-swipe machines and now they are getting many orders, he said.
Explaining the process, he said businesses had to open an account in the respective bank which is in turn linked to the machine for recording daily transactions. When a card is swiped, the money is credited to the account, he explained.
