Tirupati reels under small currency crisis

Visiting pilgrims unable to pay for inexpensive goods and services without smaller denominations of currency

: R. Dhanapalan of Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu, who was having lunch at a roadside biryani kiosk, hurriedly washed his hands on seeing his bus pulling into the central bus station at Tirupati. When he handed over a Rs. 500 note to the vendor, expecting his change in return, he received a furious look and was informed that the Rs. 500 note had been completely scrapped and could not be exchanged across a bank counter. A minor tiff ensued till Dhanapalan handed over a Rs. 100 note with a curse.

The problem of buying and selling without smaller currency cropped up similarly when little Bhumika of Hoskote wanted to buy a poosalu necklace and ear-rings from a roadside nomadic vendor, but her father refused to part with his ‘precious’ Rs. 100 note. The dormitories behind the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) bus station, which rent out a cot for Rs. 50 a day, are also under pressure to get smaller denominations. The railway station, central bus stand and the Govindaraja Swamy Pushkarini areas in Tirupati, considered the temple city’s buzzing underbelly, are still reeling under the currency crisis, despite the flow of new notes into banks and ATMs. More than the non-availability of new notes, it is the refusal by panic-stricken customers to part with smaller denominations of currency that is causing friction.

Unique problem

While most transactions in other cities happen between residents and vendors, the situation is quite different in Tirupati, where over 50,000 visiting pilgrims conduct a sizeable number of transactions, taking the requirement for currency of smaller denominations to a new high. As poor and lower middle class visitors are the main customers for roadside hawkers, the products and services on offer are often worth less than Rs.100. On the one hand, ATMs continue to belch out Rs. 2,000 notes and on the other, the new Rs. 500 note remains elusive, making customers as well as vendors hold on to their Rs. 100, Rs. 50 and Rs. 20 notes firmly.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is accepting demonetised Rs. 500 notes on all routes till December 15, being a public utility. APSRTC was able to accept Rs. 1,000 notes till yesterday, too, scoring a point over rivals, even as scores of private bus companies plying to towns in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka fumed over the absence of a ‘level playing field’, and thus the loss of business.