With barely a week to go for pay day, the salaried class and pensioners are a worried lot, unsure whether the cash crunch will ease for them to meet the monthly commitments.
From house rent to a host of other payments - towards milk, maintenance, laundry, domestic help, groceries, school and bus fees, a long list of expenditure involving cash payments follow the pay day. The first to face the heat will be those from the organised sector who receive salary either on 30th or 1st of the month.
Unlike those in service who still can manage with savings and with some help from friends and relatives, the “plight of pensioners will be pathetic, particularly family pensioners”, according to G. Venkat Reddy, Associate President of the Telangana Retired College Teachers’ Association.
Since pension is relatively less, the government should allow pensioners to withdraw the entire amount, he said.
Concurring with him, the Telangana State Government Retired Employees’ Association leader R. Vishwas Reddy said all the 2.5 lakh pensioners in the State draw their pension through banks and if the cash crunch continues, they will be put to hardship.
Equally worried are those in trade and business, where salary is paid between 5th and 10th of the month. While bank transfers have become the norm in large industries, small industries continue to make cash payments. Wages to casual labourers are paid in cash since they do not have bank accounts, said Ravindra Modi, president, Federation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Cash payment reigns supreme in commercial establishments. The Telangana State Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Trade president, Ammanabolu Prakash, does not rule out the possibility of the crunch delaying salary payments. Cash flows, he added, have been severely affected with many businesses seeing less customers post the government decision demonetising Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes.
On their part, bankers have started working out plans to meet the rush around the salary days. “We are discussing every day” sources in State Bank of Hyderabad said, adding that the planning is about the cash required, the arrangements needed for the senior citizens.
Expressing hope that the situation with regard to the cash crunch would improve, a senior banker pointed out that much depends on the cash available and the number of new Rs. 500 notes that will be available in Hyderabad soon. Bankers expect the situation to improve with the release of the new Rs. 500 notes that started on Wednesday. Anticipating the demand for cash withdrawal from government officials and pensioners to be high once their salary/pension is credited, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday advised banks to take appropriate steps by ensuring adequate cash availability to meet the requirements of the pensioners.
