While the chaos for cash continues in city, some vendors and shopkeepers in city have found a unique way to make some easy extra moolah. They willingly accept the old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination, but not without some extra tax or commission. Different innovative schemes are also on offer.
“I recently went to a bar in RT Nagar to buy liquor for the weekend. The price of the liquor was Rs 500. When I went to pay the money at the counter,the bar manager told me that he was also accpeting old Rs 500 notes, but for an extra Rs 100,” said Rajesh.
Mohan, a techie, said they had gone to buy clothes at Commercial Street.
“After bargaining, the shopkeeper agreed to give the garments for Rs 1,200. When I gave him new Rs 2,000 currency note, he did not have change to give back. Later, he offered that he was ready to take old currency notes, but the total bill would be Rs 1,500,” he added.
Soumya, a resident of Nagarbhavi, said that some of the shop owners in Vijaynagar were also accepting old currency notes. Commission being charged is Rs 200 for every Rs 1,000 note.
Private firm employee Srinivas (name changed), whose daughter’s wedding is round the corner, said, “Our jeweller in Basavanagudi agreed to accept old currency notes. When we went to purchase gold with old currency notes, he was charging Rs 5,200 per one gram of gold. Present gold rate is Rs 3,000 per gram.
We would have ended up paying Rs 2,200 more per gram of gold, hence we decided not to buy”.
Srilakshmi, who was looking for a house on rent near Global village, said, “We went to see one house after reading an advertisement on a social media website about a three-bedroom house for 16,000. The owner had declared that he would accept old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for advance payment. But, when we went there, the rooms were too small and roads leading to the house not good. We were told that owner was trying to trick people into buying his old and dilapidated house”.