VISAKHAPATNAM: The demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes is creating havoc leaving the honest citizens harassed. Most of the retail stores, restaurants, department stores and movie theatres in the city are not accepting the old notes and reluctant to accept the new Rs 2000 notes due to low-value notes crunch, leading to slowdown in day-to-day life.
People who wish to eat out in the restaurants and food courts are facing the problem as most of the food places only accept money instead of card payment. “After the ban we are observing 30 per cent fall in sales daily. We do not have the provision of accepting debit or credit cards because we provide purchase card to the customers availing of the amount they pay and later we return the balance amount. We are not accepting the old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 and even if a customer coming with Rs 2,000 note we are accepting unless the bill is Rs 1,000 or nearer to Rs 1,000,” says Santosh Yadav, floor incharge of The Food Court, CMR Central.
“We have stopped accepting the old notes as the retail stores are instructed. Though many people come with the debit and credit card for the payment, majority of people does not have the facility because some of them do not even have accounts in banks and we have to send them back. Whereas some people come with Rs 2,000 notes and we are accepting it depending upon the bill and the change we have with us, said Nagesh, manager of More Super Market, Akkayyapelem.
Meanwhile, some of the department stores are accepting the old notes as there is time for their exchange only if the amount of purchase is high. Even some of the department store owners say that they are not accepting money but keeping the records of the purchase by the customers only if they are familiar to them. All the CMR Malls in the city are accepting old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes but along with the Aadhaar card proof of the customer.
Even the theatres in the city are not accepting the old notes, whereas, only a few single screen theatres in the city have the facility for the movie buffs to book tickets online and some which do not have the majority of the seats go vacant.
The ticket in the multiplex theatres have more online bookings than earlier. “It has definitely affected the business because we do not have swipe machine and all the tickets are sold against cash and the allotted online seats are booked,” said a ticket counter clerk at one of the famous single screen theatres of the city.“The business for the multiplexes surely has come down since the ban announcement. The online bookings are going good but the counter booking have seen a fall. The business has gone down by 30 to 40 per cent,” said the duty manager of an Inox theatre.