What ban? 14 days on, old notes still in currency

TNN | Nov 23, 2016, Kolkata: Fourteen days have passed since the government scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes but they are apparently still in circulation, in a surreptitious manner albeit.

Among those who do not seem to have any qualms about going ahead with transactions in now-abolished currency are real estate developers. If they add up to a sizeable amount, any number of now-not-valid notes are being readily accepted by real estate agents as well as developers.

In fact, the industry is apparently running a parallel exchange counter but the "fee" is astronimacal. "To exchange up to Rs 15 lakh, the fee being usually charged is 20%. For the next slab up to Rs 30 lakh, the cost of exchange is 30%," said a Senhati-based developer.

Rumours have it that even currency exchangers are also changing old notes for valid ones, but of course, at a cost.

But these "high-value exchanges" apart, the banned currency is still flowing freely in the middle as well as lower strata of society. There seems to be no other option but to deal in invalid money as the shortage continues. "Going gets tough, but life needs to go on," said Abhisek Mitra, a private tutor, who initially stopped accepting scrapped notes. But on turning down invalid cash, his "due list" started to get longer. "I was not getting remuneration. My family sustains on it. It became so difficult for me that I eventually agreed that my students could pay me in old notes," he said.

Fish traders in the market have also been accepting the old 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, at least till a few days ago. The scene had not improved for them even even after the new Rs 2,000 notes came into circulation as someone buying fish worth Rs 300 would pull out a Rs 2,000 rupee note, expecting to get back Rs 1,700 in change. Cash-strapped and running out of change, fish sellers finally started accepting old notes, provided they bought fish of the entire amounts. "Later, we would go and deposit old notes in banks," said Bablu Das, assistant secretary of Manicktala Market Byabsayee Samiti.

"Nebo na to khabo ki? Eksho takae pocket bhorche, pet bhorche na. (What will I eat, if I don't accept old notes? Rs 100 notes are filling up pocket, not stomach)," said Saidul Hossain, a spectacles seller at Bowbazar. "I will keep accepting notes, till mahajans (moneylenders) take them." Similar is the case at a take-away food joint in Behala. "We initially refused old notes. Our sales dropped by 70%. We reverted to our old way," said the manager of a food chain.

Sudhanshu Mondol, a mason, seemed blissfully unperturbed by the ban. In the house of Shipra Ghosal of New Alipore to fix the bathroom shower, he said, "You can pay me in the old Rs 500 notes and I'll give you the change." Ghosal was aghast: "I thought the notes were banned." The plumber shrugged: "They are still in use." Ditto was the response from another mason from Rajarhat, Swapan Paul, who visited the home of Tollygunge resident A K Sengupta to fix a leak. "Please don't pay me in Rs 100 notes, I would rather, you give me in the old Rs 500 notes," he said. When told the Senguptas didn't have any of the old notes left, Paul said, "Okay, pay me later."

Even a high-profile cricket academy at Bhowanipore, run by a former test cricketer, is still accepting old Rs 500 notes. Such was the pressure from parents that he decided not to say no to them but, with a rider: the monthly fee has gone up from Rs 450 to Rs 500 for this "extra" service.