KOCHI: Once upon a time, STD/ISD booths dotted the state landscape before the cell phone revolution rendered them obsolete. Many of them morphed into mobile recharge outlets, which are facing an existential crisis of their own. The small shops located at every nook and corner are facing a big revenue slide as e-commerce websites and banks carve out a lion's share of the recharge business.
The situation is so bad that some are shutting shop. For running a shop, we need around Rs 5,000, including the rent. A few years ago, we managed to earn nearly Rs 12,000 every month. Now, we are finding it difficult to meet the shop expenses. This all happened when people started using e-commerce websites for recharging their mobiles. Only those who have not started using the Internet are visiting our shops," said 40-year-old Iqbal, who recently shut down his recharge shop in Palakkad.Antony, who runs a mobile recharge shop in Kochi, said that many such shop owners are shifting to new businesses.
"Those who are not physically fit used to run such shops as they don't need much effort. Now, many of them have converted the shops to mobile accessories and tea shops as it's difficult to run a family with the meagre income generated from mobile recharge shops," he said.Meanwhile, the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is also being blamed for the shrinking revenue as telecom companies have cut down on the commission to shop owners.
"Earlier, we could get a commission of `40 for every recharge of `1,000. But after GST, the companies have reduced it to a meagre amount. This has affected our revenue," said Abu Kabeer, who has shut down his shop.However, some customers say that they are avoiding mobile recharge outlets due to privacy fears.
"My friends stopped visiting mobile recharge shops as they fear that their number will be circulated. They have faced many such incidents. So, along with online penetration, safety is a major factor," said a homemaker requesting anonymity.