That November note ban

Queue outside ATMs in Chandigarh after demonetisation last year. Express Archives

ON THE eve of November 8 last year, little did people know that they would spend next few days queuing up outside banks and ATMs getting their notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 replaced or deposited. A year later, some of us may have forgotten what we went through those days, but others, particularly traders, are still bearing the brunt of demonetisation. City-based shopkeepers claim that they still haven’t reached that point of income which they had before demonetisation and their sales never went above 60 per cent since then.

Sushil Bansal, who deals in readymade female wear in Sector 17, recalls how around eight to 10 regular customers took temporary loan from him for weddings in their house as they didn’t have sufficient money to spend on clothing.

“The average income was about Rs 50,000 per month and after November 8, it was almost nil for initial days. Even in the next months, we had an earning of just Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000. After a year too, our income has reached just 60 per cent,” Bansal said. “It was a time when we faced a financial crisis at the family and work fronts. My regular customers returned the money only after four to five months as there was an acute shortage of funds,” he added.

A trader dealing in books, Ashutosh said, “Our trade was already suffering because of internet. Post-demonetisation, only course books were sold. People didn’t have money to buy milk and vegetables as the sellers had stopped accepting old notes, why would they have purchased books for their leisure time? When the sales fell, I didn’t have money for my family too.”

Sanjeev Chadha, president of Progressive Traders’ Association in Sector 17, maintains Chandigarh residents didn’t face that much of a problem as they use debit and credit cards. “The problem must have been in villages because those were the people who didn’t even know how to swipe a card,” said Chadha.

If there is one section which claims not to have revived even upto 30 per cent, it is city-based jewellers, though they made the most of it in the initial days as people rushed to buy jewellery.

Rajiv Sahdev, president of Chandigarh Jewellers Association, said that even on Dhanteras, they didn’t register 50 per cent sales. “Not just demonetisation, but GST added more pain. Even on Dhanteras, people purchased just small items. Usually, housewives would buy jewellery items from money saved by them but it was all deposited in the banks now,” Sahdev said. However, a resident on condition of anonymity said, “Usually, people would use black money in buying jewellery and since that channel has been blocked, the sales aren’t taking place to that extent. That is how the demonetisation has worked.”

Real estate market

The first quarter after demonetisation in 2016 saw a dip in the registration of properties in Chandigarh but it picked up within six months and the sale deeds crossed the previous year’s mark as well.

Explaining low registrations initially, property dealers feel people had become cautious while making transactions. Later, however, low property rates became a reason for the increase in property registration.

As per the quarter-wise details compiled by the UT Administration, from July 2016 to September 2016, as many as 160 sale deeds were recorded and from October 2016 to December 2016, a period in which demonetisation was announced and people were allowed to deposit their old notes in the banks, the same number of registrations — 160 — was recorded.

However, the first quarter after this period saw a downward trend with just 117 properties being registered from January 2017 to March 2017 but 151 sale deeds materialised from April to June 2017.

But the number of registrations from July to September shot up to 192 with the highest being in the month of July — 75 sale deeds. On the night of November 8, 2016, when the demonetisation was announced, the next two days — November 9 and 10 — despite being working days, not even a single property was registered in the city where even on routine days, one or two properties are registered. However, the property registration shot up to 12 on November 21 and other days close to demonetisation. In the month of November 2016, 47 properties were registered; the number rose to 54 in December. In January, the number of sale deeds was 40 while in February, it was just 35. As per the details sent to Delhi, as many as 40 properties were registered in March; the number rose to 52 in April, 48 in May and 49 in June. The situation improved in July with 75 sale deeds.