HYDERABAD: What was once an easy way to do away with black money has, two months post demonetisation announcement, turned into almost no-cash-sales sector.
More than 90 per cent of sales at jewellery stores across the city are now being done using the digital means. The sector was being closely monitored by the Income Tax Department (ITD) after note-ban.
“We now get sales of close to 90 pc of transactions using a debit or credit card. Of this about 30 per cent are through cheque and online bank transfers,” said Ravi Suresh (name changed) branch manager of a major jeweller chain. “Earlier, even for huge amounts we used to accept cash. Now people pay huge amounts through cheques. We will deliver the gold jewellery only when the cheque is cleared,” he added.
Many big jewellery stores at Panjagutta, now do majority of their sales digitally. They all now wait for the money to get credited before releasing the jewellery.
The jewellery shops had witnessed a drop in sales in November after demonetisation was announced. The same month saw a fall in gold prices that saw retail gold sales drop in the city.
But in December, a report by the enforcement directorate revealed that gold biscuits worth Rs 2,700 crore were sold in the city between November 8 and 30. The gold was bought using demonetisated notes, investigation into the issue is still ongoing. Buying gold using the demonetised notes was one of the relaxations allowed by the central government in the initial days, post the note ban.
Gold as an investment option remained unattractive through the month of December. But come January, the gold prices have risen again. This is due to strong demand for the metal from retail gold shops.
“We were afraid if the lull in sales will continue but sales have picked up again in the last ten days. The frequency of sales are just like it was before the note ban,” said Arjun Das (name changed) the branch manager of another gold jewellery. “The wedding season is ongoing, people will buy gold,” he added.