Demonetisation has had a severe impact on the supply of essential commodities, with more and more people starting to feel the pinch.
Households are unable to avail themselves of essential services such as cooking gas cylinders owing to their inability to pay in cash. A case in point is Chennai resident Dhanush Jaganathan, who booked a gas cylinder a few days ago.
His parents, who are senior citizens, were unable to exchange the old currency because of a long queue at the bank in their congested residential neighbourhood of Chintadripet.
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They had requested the gas agency to accept the old currency for the delivery of the cooking gas cylinder. But Devikarumari Gas Agency in Chintadripet refused to make the delivery.
"My parents received the cylinder only after they managed to borrow money from a neighbour whose face is not even familiar to us," said Mr. Jagannathan.
Many residents who tried to pay in the old currency denominations of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 were unable to purchase essential items such as milk from small retail outlets operating in their neighbourhood.
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"The supply of lower denomination currency notes is limited. I was unable to get a packet of milk as the shopkeeper was unable to give change for a new Rs. 2,000 currency note," said J. Johnson, a resident of Chennai.
Retail and wholesale outlets including vegetable and fruit sellers in Salem and Namakkal districts pointed to an estimated dip in business by 65 per cent. Many traders suspended operations owing to poor sales and drop in demand.
A few retail outlets installed an Electronic Data Capture machine or Point of Sale terminal, accepting payment from customers. But fewer customers in the districts were able to get essential commodities from such outlets, owing to the restrictions on the minimum amount of purchase using debit or credit cards.
Owing to a drop in demand for vegetables and other commodities, the number of trucks transporting vegetables also fell significantly. Traders said they expected the situation to remain the same for the next month. Medical shops did not accept Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes in districts like Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore and many more. A number of consumers said shopkeepers refused to accept even Rs. 2,000 notes due to a shortage of Rs. 100 notes.
S. Thanigaiselvan, a business executive from Thanjavur, said that his local provision store has now begun asking customers to provide lower denomination currencies. “I am unable to get such currency notes because of the long queues outside ATMs,” he said.
( With inputs from R. Rajaram in Tiruchi, L. Renganathan in Thanjavur and S.P.Saravanan in Salem)
Households are having a hard time buying goods like gas cylinders and milk due to cash crunch