KOCHI: The last two days have been giving nightmares to Rajan (name changed), a private moneylender operating in Aluva.
Rajan was literally caught between the devil and the deep sea due to the cash crunch triggered by demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
The Private Bankers’ Association has a ‘tale of Rs 10,000 crore’ to tell, the collective turnover of the 11,000-odd members of the Association. Private bankers and individual moneylenders together have Rs 12,000 crore worth business in the State. “Private banks and individual moneylenders are among the worst affected in the state due to the Central Government action. The Income Tax Department will monitor all cash deposits made between December 10 and 30, above the Rs 2.5-lakh threshold. The deposits will be matched with the returns filed by the depositors. The government has not specified separate limits for holders of savings account and current account,” said Sanjeev Kumar G, founder of prognoadvisor.com, a financial analysis firm.
“The business of private banks was affected badly by the demonetisation. Most of the banks remained closed on Wednesday, while business was down on Thursday. Generally, each of them would have around Rs 5 lakh cash in hand to lend. Due to the restrictions on withdrawal, we were forced to make part payments to customers,” said All-Kerala Private Bankers’ Association president C J Joseph.
T S George of Kottayam-based Thadathil Financiers expects normalcy in operations within two weeks.
“We have proper sources of income, and have opened current accounts by providing PAN card and other details. Hence, we do not foresee any difficulty in the coming days,” he said.