BENGALURU: While supermarkets are raking in the moolah after demonetisation, small traders and vegetable vendors across the city are having a tough time as their sales have gone down drastically.
Vendors at Commercial Street, National Market, Gandhi Bazaar, Russell Market, MG Road and Koramangala, have a similar tale to narrate. Also, in some areas, a few shopkeepers were seen closing their shop early with no business.
Raghunandan K, a vegetable vendor in HSR Layout said, “There has been no business at all in the last one week. I have stopped purchasing vegetables in large quantities from the wholesaler. I am suffering heavy losses as my business has come down by 60 per cent. I am hopeful that things will improve in the next few days. However, we do support the PM and his demonetisation move.”
Voicing similar opinion, Ruksana Begum from Koramangala said, “Business has been so low that it is better off to be closed. I have a small shop and had shut it down temporarily after demonetisation. Now, I have reopened for business.”
Mohammad Shabeer, a chicken trader at Russell Market said, “I have been selling chicken meat on credit.”
Talking about the inconvenience faced by the shopkeepers at National Market in Majestic, Pasha, a shopkeeper, said, “Business has been hit badly. Looks like this will continue for the next few days. Transactions here happen only in a few hundreds. Hence, we cannot keep the card swiping machine. People do come here and ask us if we accepts cards. We are losing out on business.”
M C Dinesh from FKCCI says, “We have requested the government to make Rs 100 and Rs 500 denominations available in abundance in the market. The problem is that large number of people do not have credit cards. It is even more challenging in the taluk-level. Besides, post offices do not have much cash. But at some level, we all need to accept the fact this has cleansed the system and some amount of inconvenience is inevitable.”