The money counter on the cashier’s table keeps whirring and beeping without pushing out the note and putting out the digital figure. “The new Rs. 2000 and Rs. 500 currency notes are smaller and thinner and I am having problem with counting. There are so few in circulation and when I try to check a new single note the machine is getting stuck,” says N. Satyanarayana, the cashier.
“Oh! The machine is running old software and hence it is unable to count the new notes. We are updating the software of all our old machines so that they can count as well as detect fake notes,” says an official of Maxsell, a Chennai-based firm that manufactures cash-counting machines.
In the streets of Siddiamber Bazaar, where a number of dealers for money counting machines operate, the word is complete bafflement about the new notes and how the machines handle them. “Most of the high-end machines costing above Rs. 6,500 are made in China and they have sensors to even count plastic currency notes. But the lower-end machines, which most of the small-time traders have, are locally made (costing Rs. 4,000 and upwards) and they are not able to distinguish the new currency notes which are smaller in size,” said Murali, one of the dealers.
“The business has taken a big hit. We are not selling any machines waiting for the newer lot to come soon. But even the companies manufacturing the machines haven’t got the new notes. So we all are waiting when sufficient number of new notes are available. Only then the business will improve, I guess,” says Gopal Reddy who sells a range of weighing and counting equipment.
The company site has this message: “Due to non-issuance of new 500 INR, the updation is further extended, until new notes are brought into circulation. However, we have already updated and tested on our various machines for new 2000 INR and it’s working well.”
The machine is running old software and hence it is unable to count the new notes
Official of Maxsell,
A Chennai-based firm
