Jugaad in time of cash crunch

Residents and shopowners in city have come up with innovative ways to tackle demonetisation like collective purchase and paying small salaries through tokens from supermarkets
Customers queue up outisde an ATM kiosk. Lines outside ATMs have grown longer since the beginning of the month with residents hoping to withdraw money for rent, household expenses, loans and fees | pu
Customers queue up outisde an ATM kiosk. Lines outside ATMs have grown longer since the beginning of the month with residents hoping to withdraw money for rent, household expenses, loans and fees | pu

BENGALURU: Post demonetisation, many may be finding the cash crunch tough to deal with. But there are some who have come up with out-of-the-box ideas to beat the demonetisation blues. From collective purchase to payment of small salaries through tokens from Big Bazaar and other hypermarkets, the jugaad list is endless.

Bengalureans have been depending on various ‘jugaad’ methods since the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a ‘surgical strike’ on black money.
Many companies and shops are allowing citizens to ‘purchase goods now and pay after three or four months’. Some citizens do not pay at local grocery stores until their bill crosses `2,000.
Raju Bhatnagar from Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) says, “For smaller amounts, some vendors are distributing tokens to their staff, which are accepted as salaries. There are instances of people keeping a small diary and going for shopping in groups. Many shopowners are using card swiping machines of their neighbours.”

“People have come up with one different ideas to deal with the present situation. With RBI expediting printing of more notes, I feel the situation will normalise considerably within the next 15 days,” he adds.
However, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FKCCI) chief MC Dinesh feels these are bizarre ways of doing business.
He says, “How are they going to file their returns? GST is also round the corner.
These are some of the desperate measures being taken by businessmen. But it remains to be seen how far their dependency on jugaad will pay off. A car maker’s offer says ‘Buy now and pay in 2018.’ How practical and viable is the offer!”

S M Krishna backs demonetisation Veteran Congress leader
S M Krishna on Sunday came out in support of demonetisation saying it was a good move, but the Centre should have planned it better. Speaking on the sidelines of a book launch in the city, he said, “There is complete support for Modi’s move and there is no doubt about his intentions. But if he had made sure banks had been stocked with enough currency, the common man would not have faced so much inconvenience.”  Krishna felt the move was essential to curb hoarding of black money. Speaking about the two suspended officials, S C Jayachandra and T N Chikkarayappa, Krishna was amazed how they managed to find such large amounts of new notes. “This is a disgusting development. Such officials should face stringent punishment, suspension is not enough.”

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