Pune: Traders in Maharashtra’s Pune city feel the government’s demonetisation decision in 2016 caused temporary hardships, but the move led to a spike in digital transactions in the subsequent years.
The Supreme Court in a 4:1 majority verdict on Monday upheld the Centre’s 2016 decision to ban Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes, saying the decision-making process was neither flawed nor hasty and that it is “not relevant” whether the stated objectives were achieved or not.
Recalling the move, Pune-based pharmaceuticals wholesaler Mahendra Pitalia said, “Everybody, be it traders or common people, had to face hardships after the demonetisation exercise was announced. Everyone was in limbo about the fate of the scrapped notes they had. Banks were not immediately accepting cash from traders.”
He said the positive outcome of the note ban move was the spike in digital transactions by people.
Maharashtra Plastic Association’s former secretary Pramod Shah said that in hindsight, note ban was a good move.
“Though nothing came concrete out of that exercise, it was a good move. Those who had black money, they had to face the consequences, not everyone,” he said.
Shah said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had predicted a depreciation of three per cent in the country’s economy, but currently the Indian economy is stronger compared to other countries.
“Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram had expressed apprehensions about digital payments. See today, the digital payments have increased many-fold,” he said.
Milind Shalgar, who owns a readymade garments brand in Pune with the same name, also said the hardships were temporary.
“After demonetisation, we could not accept cash and only card payments were accepted. For 10 -15 days, the business declined, but later it came back on track. We traders knew it was a transitional period and we were mentally prepared because the entire exercise was huge. We knew it would require some time before things settle down,” he added.
Shalgar also said the digital payment system was very well adopted in subsequent years.
“Today, we are so relieved that we do not have to handle the cash in our business like we used to do as more than 80 per cent of payments are done through online mode,” he said.
However, Federation of Traders Associations of Pune (FATP) president Fatehchand Ranka differed and claimed the note ban decision was taken without consulting the Reserve Bank of India.
“The economic condition continued to deteriorate as it (exercise) did not gain success,” he said, adding that the move hit small businesses.
“Several traders had to close their businesses. All businesses were affected but at least 15 per cent of small-time traders had to close their businesses,” he said.
