Street vendors succumb to pressure after dip in customers

The sting of the rule to make currency notes of 500 and 1,000 illegal from Wednesday midnight was so strong that even the vendors and shopkeepers of the street markets had to succumb to the pressure. Initially, the vendors had thought of not accepting the notes but a low turnout of almost one third of the general crowd pushed them to accept the notes just to keep their business ticking. But with a rider!

The shopkeepers were accepting notes of 500 and 1,000 only if the buyer made a purchase of Rs 

450 or Rs 750 to Rs 900 respectively.

Even the famous eating joints around the city had to accept the notes as there was a steep fall in the graph of the number of people visiting the markets.

Many of the shopkeepers in popular street markets like Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar, Janpath, Palika Bazar were attracting customers by shouting — Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes are accepted here! When Millennium Post visited those particular shops, it was found that a new scheme was introduced. 

The notes were being accepted only for a purchase of Rs 400-Rs 450 for a Rs 500 note and 

Rs 750 to Rs 900 for a Rs 1,000 note. 

“Since morning, each customer is asking us are you accepting Rs 500/Rs 1,000? Only if I say a yes, they were agreeing in seeing my products. Many of them have bought stuff for Rs 100 or Rs 150 and gave me a Rs 500 note. As I do not have that much change that I can survive for two days, I have to send back my customers,” said Divik (29), a shopkeeper in Janpath Market. 

This was the common scenario in all markets.