PANAJI: Since 1958, Vishnu Desai has manned the cash counter at his hole-in-the-wall general store-cum-ice cream parlour at Cortim, near Mala. But on November 8, 2016, he saw the basics of the business he had practiced for sixty years challenged, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
Desai, 85, suddenly found that they had no other means to conduct business. The cash flow had been restricted. So, he and his son Rajesh decided that it was finally time to improvise.
"Customers were asking us if there was any other mode through which we accepted payment," recalls Rajesh. "I remembered that a Paytm agent had come to me. I got in touch with him and learnt the basics. We then began accepting payments through Paytm. Today, we have 15-20 daily customers who pay through the mode."
The purchases at the store are usually small — mostly an ice cream or a milk packet — and transactions are normally in the range of Rs 5 to Rs 200. But the Desais find online transactions convenient for many reasons.
"There is no worry of robbery," said Desai, a resident of St Inez. "There is also no hassle of calculating the change and tallying the cash at the end of the day."
"After I began accepting Paytm, customers in fact started asking me if I also accept debit/credit cards. So I applied for a swipe machine at the bank. Customers swipe their card when the amount is big and use Paytm when the purchase is small."
Once aboard the tech train, there was no looking back. Rajesh then switched to a 4G-enabled smartphone to manage his online transactions, and he also fitted the store with CCTV cameras, to ensure his and his father's safety.
"I find cash transfers convenient as the money is directly transferred into my bank account," he said. "Now, my regular customers also ask me to do online mobile recharges for them and I do it for the regulars, even though I don't otherwise offer the service."
Today, a year after demonetisation, opinions still starkly differ. But for the Desais, they probably wonder why it wasn't done much earlier.
Desai, 85, suddenly found that they had no other means to conduct business. The cash flow had been restricted. So, he and his son Rajesh decided that it was finally time to improvise.
"Customers were asking us if there was any other mode through which we accepted payment," recalls Rajesh. "I remembered that a Paytm agent had come to me. I got in touch with him and learnt the basics. We then began accepting payments through Paytm. Today, we have 15-20 daily customers who pay through the mode."
The purchases at the store are usually small — mostly an ice cream or a milk packet — and transactions are normally in the range of Rs 5 to Rs 200. But the Desais find online transactions convenient for many reasons.
"There is no worry of robbery," said Desai, a resident of St Inez. "There is also no hassle of calculating the change and tallying the cash at the end of the day."
"After I began accepting Paytm, customers in fact started asking me if I also accept debit/credit cards. So I applied for a swipe machine at the bank. Customers swipe their card when the amount is big and use Paytm when the purchase is small."
Once aboard the tech train, there was no looking back. Rajesh then switched to a 4G-enabled smartphone to manage his online transactions, and he also fitted the store with CCTV cameras, to ensure his and his father's safety.
"I find cash transfers convenient as the money is directly transferred into my bank account," he said. "Now, my regular customers also ask me to do online mobile recharges for them and I do it for the regulars, even though I don't otherwise offer the service."
Today, a year after demonetisation, opinions still starkly differ. But for the Desais, they probably wonder why it wasn't done much earlier.
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