While the opposition parties and the ruling parties are in a rush to justify their stand on the first anniversary of the note ban which happened last year on November 8, let’s take an overview of the Pune trade market and the difficulties that the businessmen faced during this process.
Keeping aside the mainstream jobs, the small businessmen who provide the items of daily needs to citizens suffered a lot during the entire note ban process. No doubt a lot of vendors, who did not have their bank accounts, had opened their accounts and their transactions are now pretty transparent; however, the same account holder had to stand in long queues to get his own money. The scarcity of cash in all ATMs in Pune continued for a couple of months.
Then came the technologically challenged vendors, who did not know how to use mobile payment apps. When they overcame this hurdle, they were introduced to a new tax, which apps like PayTM practised. Any amount which transferred through mobile to the bank had two per cent tax on it. Common people were tired of the changing rules every third day during the entire process. Initially, one was allowed to deposit only Rs 4,000 in his bank account. After two days, he was allowed to deposit Rs 10,000, then Rs 25,000 and then he was allowed to deposit up to Rs 40,000. These rules were in a way controlling common man’s money.
Bharat Vaid, a trader from Raviwar Peth, said, “When you are used to dealing in cash for daily needed products, it becomes very difficult to transform it into cashless economy. It took a while for us to understand what exactly was happening. Finally, when we started practising the cashless economy, the government introduced GST. This was a major step. Till date, the GST confusion is still on.” This is the average situation in Pune. Many shops had to close down and therefore, the helpers in those shops had to give up their jobs. Pune has eventually emerged as a start-up hub. Most of the aspiring businessmen are waiting for a stable economy when the rules won’t change for a while.
Fatechand Ranka, President of Federation of Trade Associations of Pune, said, “Since the demonetisation has happened, nearly 50 per cent of business has gone down for Pune traders. The government keeps talking about black money, but where is it? 99 per cent of the economy was back in the banks and they couldn’t prove any of their points. Their gold deposit scheme was also another failure. There is no proper infrastructure for management of economy today. Banks initially faced the challenge of retaining the cash they received from numerous account holders. Today, when I talk to my traders about maintaining their accounts and ask them to consult a good CA, they reply saying even chartered accountants are confused about new rules. GST has created a new mess. We do not oppose any rule. We just want to do our business peacefully. If there is no stability and the rules keep changing this way, the business sector is going to suffer a lot.”
Any idea towards development leads to failure if not implemented in the right manner. Traders are not against any rule, however, the way the government wants them to change in no time, is quite unrealistic.
- Jyoti Nalawade
