Have old notes, will splurge - Daily purchase limit at central stores after rush to shop with recalled cash

Groceries being loaded into a car outside a Kendriya Bhandar store in New Delhi. Picture by Prem Singh

ANANYA SENGUPTA, TT, New Delhi, Nov. 19: A bald customer placing 10 bottles of coconut hair oil in a shopping cart, a woman stacking up 15 packets of sanitary napkins, another lugging 40kg atta and 20kg of sugar and one with 20 bottles of shampoo....

It is possible that the hair oil customer has several long-haired relatives at home but the patrons of Kendriya Bhandar outlets in the capital have been getting rid of their Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes like there is no tomorrow.

Parked outside these government-run subsidised retail stores - where old notes are accepted like at government hospitals, milk booths and petrol pumps - are rows and rows of sedans and SUVs. People with trolleys piled with goods - perishable and non-perishable - can be seen racing to unload them all into the boots or on the back seats of their cars.

The consumer is smart but the government is smarter.

Today, the finance ministry slapped a daily limit. Using the old high-value notes, purchases in these stores cannot be made beyond Rs 10,000 a day, according to a notification that has surfaced in the Kendriya Bhandar outlets. Transactions above the limit can be done using valid notes or cards.

Before November 8, when the Prime Minister announced the demonetisation drive, most purchases per person were below Rs 1,500. The network of Kendriya Bhandar stores was set up primarily for central government and allied employees. But there is no bar on anyone else from shopping at these stores.

The profile of the clientele and the volume of business per person have undergone a transformation since November 8.

"We have had people buying groceries for Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 in the last few days. It has been mayhem. We have had to re-stock every hour," said an official at the Kendriya Bhandar outlet on Mahadev Road in central Delhi.

"Once people get in, we cannot stop them from buying as much as they want. We have been abused and harassed by customers waiting for their turn, but what could we have done? With today's notification, more people will get a chance to take care of their daily needs."

Taxi driver Sukhjinder Singh, who had come all the way from Mehrauli in south Delhi to the Mahadev Road outlet, vented his frustration. "My wife has been waiting in the line since 9 am today. Five hours later, she is still waiting," he said, as his three kids sat patiently in the car.

"People are just buying stuff as if an emergency has been declared in the country. Their trolleys are laden with stuff which will suffice for months. We, the poor, who can at the most buy Rs 1,000 worth of groceries, are left with empty shelves and old notes."

Delhi has 101 Kendriya Bhandar outlets, many of which are not accessible to the general public as they are in high-security areas. There are a few stores in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Assam.

At the Kali Bari Road store in central Delhi too, the scene is much the same - people in sedans making sure their old notes are disposed of before the demonetisation rules change again while the less privileged await their turn.

"I have a huge family," said Rahul Desai, as he and his daughter unloaded stuff on to the back seat of their sedan with three full trolleys waiting in the queue. "We need these things, Madam," he said, asked why he had bought so many bottles of glass cleaner.

A group of six middle-aged women, who wheeled seven loaded trolleys out of the Mahadev Road store after a three-hour shopping spree, turned belligerent when asked for how many months they had stocked up.

"Why do you ask these questions? We are spending our own money. It is for my family," one of them said angrily, as another told someone over the phone to send two more cars to ferry the goods home.

Rimpy Gupta, who has an export business, was open about why she had come to a government store for the first time ever to buy groceries.

"I have bought stuff that I don't need. But what to do? If I go to a bank, I will be able to exchange only Rs 2,000. But here I have spent Rs 8,500 and I am relieved that these old notes are off my chest.

"I was planning to spend much more, but couldn't because of the restrictions," said Gupta, who still has Rs 40,000 in old notes to dispose of. Asked what she would do with 20 cartons of fruit juices that have a shelf life, she stared. "Oh, I will buy new ones."

At the other end of the spectrum is Amarjeet Singh, a contractor who is tired of waiting. In a fit of frustration, he said the cash limit at Kendriya Bhandar outlets should be cut to Rs 2,000 per bill.

"This has become routine for us. Stand in the line outside the bank in the morning and do the same in the afternoon at grocery stores. While you can exchange only Rs 2,000 at banks, here you can easily exchange Rs 10,000.

"So here too, the rich who can buy Rs 10,000 worth of groceries at one go are benefited and the poor whose salaries are just that much are the losers. This government has ensured that the poor suffer everywhere."