Mangoes, gold, luxury watches: Indians are out to offload Rs 2000 notes before phase-out

Indians are flocking to make big purchases as Rs 2000 notes would soon go out of circulation. The purchases range from daily essentials toeven premium goods. Making these purchases with soon-to-be-withdrawn Rs 2000 notes will sidestep the need to exchange them or deposit them at banks.

The Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank, announced last week that Rs 2000 notes, the country's largest currency denomination, will be withdrawn from circulation by the end of September. No specific reason has been given for the move. The decision comes ahead of state and general elections in the country.

The latest decision to withdraw currency denomination is expected to be far less disruptive than the 2016 demonetisation during which 85per cent of the notes were withdrawn from circulation overnight.

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This time, from the weekend, people have thronged stores to spend Rs 2000 notes. This would save them the hassle of queuing up at banks to exchange them. There is a possibility of scrutiny from the tax department as hoarding Rs 2000 notes can be seen as an attempt to keep illegal cash.

Sales skyrocket

Indian shops, for their part, eagerly accepted the note, using it as an opportunity to increase sales, several of them said on Tuesday, the first day the exchange was allowed.

“A lot of people are using 2,000-rupee notes to pay for mangoes since Saturday,” said Mohammad Azhar, 30, a mango seller near the Crawford Market area in India’s financial capital of Mumbai. He was quoted by Reuters.

“On a daily basis, I get 8-10 notes now. I accept it. I have no option, it’s my business. I will deposit everything at once before Sept. 30. There is no fear since the note is valid.”

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Michael Martis, store manager at a Rado store in a mall in central Mumbai, said his store had seen a 60 per cent - 70 per centincrease in Rs 2000 notes since the withdrawal was announced.

“That has increased our watch sales to three-fourpieces per day from one-twopreviously,” said Martis, as quoted by Reuters.

Zomato, the popular food delivery app, said on Twitter that 72 per cent of the 'cash on delivery' orders were paid in Rs 2000 notes since Friday. However, the company spokesperson clarified in response to a query seeking details that the tweet was made in jest and was not factual. Reuters said that the company refused to provide actual numbers.

Not everyone's accepting

Not all shop owners were keen to accept the notes.

“I don’t accept; I won’t accept. I don’t want to get into the trouble of depositing it with my bank,” said a restaurant owner in South Mumbai.

Unlike in 2016, when customers rushed to banks to exchange the scrapped currency notes, bank branches in Mumbai and New Delhi were mostly quiet with a handful of people standing in queues.

(With inputs from agencies)

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