No rush for cash, it was business as usual in Mumbai

MUMBAI: In the bustling trading hubs of Mumbai, India’s commercial nerve-centre, the impact of inadequate availability of currency notes appears to be felt only virtually — on television screens beaming the news of a cash crunch in some parts of the country.

Across the sprawling metropolis where high-net-worth stock and bond investors and traders jostle for space in commuter-train coaches during the rush hour, the subject of conversation has rarely veered toward the lack of availability of bills at the city’s cash dispensers.

At the crowded Kalbadevi, the bond and stock CBD of Bandra Kurla Complex, or the middle-class residential neighbourhood of Mira Road, it was business as usual Wednesday— as routine as it gets.

Most ATMs are dispensing cash, barring a few routine interruptions. None of the 15-odd ATMs visited by ETcorrespondents across the city showed any queues, and all were dispensing money.

Deepak (40), a Kalbadevi-based grocer dealing largely in cash, seemed clueless about the cash crunch. “We do not find any sign of a crisis now. I have had absolutely no problems.”

Kalbadevi is both a wholesale and retail market for a range of products – from cycle tyres and tubes to cloth and groceries. Cash is the currency here, and small traders transact business worth thousands of crores. During demonetisation, this was one area where business was affected. About a couple of ATMs in the area were malfunctioning because of technical glitches.

Saijal Sikander Baig, a local businessman frequently travelling to Andheri, Mira Road, and Dharavi (Asia’s largest slum) for his business, said that he has not seen any “rush for cash” anywhere.