Fuel outlets and restaurants in Chennai refuse to take ₹2,000 notes

According to stakeholders, many have begun to panic since they experienced harassment from Income Tax officials after the demonitisation exercise of November 2016

A sign put up at a fuel outlet in Chennai saying that ₹2,000 notes are not accepted there. | Photo Credit: M. VEDHAN

In what could be a knee-jerk reaction to the RBI announcement that ₹2,000 notes will be pulled from circulation, many fuel outlets belonging to oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the State and some restaurants are refusing to accept them from customers.

A dealer in the city said many had begun to panic since they experienced harassment from Income Tax (I-T) officials after the demonitisation exercise of November 2016. “We have been asked by banks to fill in details of ₹2,000 notes in separate challans when we deposit them into our accounts. It shows that our transactions are being tracked. The I-T officials look at us as if we are crooks. We don’t want to get into trouble for anything,” he said.

Another dealer in the city’s outskirts said they had started getting ₹2,000 notes in small quantities. “The dealer networks have been advising us to accept the notes, but to ensure that, we should not accept notes beyond the transactions’ value. We also shouldn’t deposit an amount exceeding the day’s collection in bank accounts,” he said.

A dealer in the western region said they were accepting ₹2,000 notes only if there weren’t any other options. “I have told my employees to refuse at first. If the customer does not have notes of other denominations or an alternate mode of payment, we will accept the ₹2,000 note. Some outlets are noting down the customers’ Aadhaar card and mobile numbers,” he said.

Meanwhile, dealers of one OMC said their sales officers told them on Sunday to accept ₹2,000 notes since they were still legal tender.

A few restaurants too have been telling customers that they won’t accept the notes. “The last time we paid a huge fine since we took notes from customers. They pay after they eat. That is how restaurants operate. When they pay with ₹2,000 notes, we have no other go,” a restaurateur said.

M. Ravi of the Chennai Hotels Association said the government should give some kind of respite for small businesses. They should not be troubled by the I-T Department. “The deposit limit of ₹20,000 per day without any questions being asked should be raised to ₹1 lakh a day,” he said.

Consumer activist T. Sadagopan said OMCs should ensure that customers did not face unnecessary trouble when paying with ₹2,000 notes since they were still legal tender. Many would not have more than one or two notes and fuel outlets and restaurants should accept these notes, he added.