Cash-obsessed Lamington Rd, Irla market wear deserted look; wholesale markets worried

Mumbai: “It’s a complete lull and we do not know if opening the banks and ATMs will change things,” a worried trader at the Lamington Road in south Mumbai, arguably the country’s biggest market for electronic items and computer peripherals, said today.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s widely welcomed move to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes, there was an eerie calm in the market, where hard currency rules settling trades worth crores daily.

“There is panic in the market because of the over- dependence on cash and lack of accountability where not every sale is reported,” Mitesh Mody, secretary of the All-India Radio and Electronics Association, a traders’ body, told PTI.

Mody said that half the transactions that happen in the market go unreported due the dominance of cash, which explains why getting an exact hold on the turnover is impossible.

He feared the impact of the move will be felt for long as consumers go slow on discretionary spending to concentrate on essential spending in the days of low-cash availability.

Mody said that in the face of a sustained dip in demand, inventory management and payments to suppliers — most of whom are in China, Taiwan and South Korea — will be the biggest concerns for the trade.

It was a similar, gloomy picture across the city’s markets which sell expensive electronic goods, with a near-complete halt in purchases due to the ban on high value bank notes, even though some mobile sellers saw brisk business last night.

A trader in south Mumbai’s Manish Market said, “There has been no sale since morning. Some customers are coming with Rs 500 and 1,000 notes and we are sending them back. Our whole business has been affected and we fear this impact to continue till next month.”

The angst of the shopkeepers was very visible when some of them stopped mediamen from clicking pictures and threatened to delete memory cards.

The Irla market, known for electronic gadgets in the suburban Vile Parle area, saw good footfalls last night and a trader said there will be a shift to card-based payments from the cash side now.

Vinay, a store manager of Mobile Point NX, said his shop has decided to accept cash till the end of the day.

Sikandar, the manager of the famous mobile shop Alfa Stores, said it will take 10 days for the confusion to settle down and he also expects a shift to card-based transactions.

A senior official at the DB Marg Police Station, located right in the middle of the Lamington Road market, also said there is a huge drop in footfalls in the market and the traders are an anxious lot.

He, however, said things should return to normal once the banks reopen, probably oblivious to the fact that despite the crores that exchange hands under his jurisdiction every day, the market is decoupled from the formal financial system. Till now, at least.

Demonetisation has Mumbai’s wholesale markets worried

Mumbai: The otherwise busy, organised and unorganised markets across the megapolis such as the British-era Crawford Market known for fruits and dryfruits, Mangaldas Market dealing in clothes, and the electronics-heavy Manish Market donned a deserted look today.

These cash-heavy markets deal in tens of crores of rupees business on any given day but today was different as the Centre’s decision to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes has adversely affected footfalls.

Shopkeepers said customers were not turning in as they were panicked and busy in finding ways to change their high value notes.

“Business is down by 80 to 90 per cent today as customers are busy converting their Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

The market is near empty,” Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association president Viren Shah told PTI.

The association has around 2.5 lakh shopkeepers across Mumbai and adjoining Navi Mumbai and Thane satellite cities.

He is worried that the rainy days will continue for the next 10 days or so. Shah, however, praised the steps taken by the government and said it will help in removing fake and black money from the market.

Manohar Wagle, president, Maharashtra Sports & Fitness Trade Association, said already retail players are hit as there is no liquidity and this will continue for long.

“The move is going to affect us badly for the next 10-15 days,” Wagle said adding, however, it is good for the country in the long term.

Business in the famous Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Mandai, also known as Crawford Market in south Mumbai, saw a huge decline in footfalls where otherwise thousands of people mill around to buy fruits, dry fruits among others products in bulk.

“Nobody has come since morning. People are coming with Rs 500/1,000 notes which we have not accepted,” said a fruit seller in the British era Crawford Market.

A shopkeeper at the Mangaldas Market, which is a wholesale cloth market said they are asking retail shopowners to delay the payments as they are not accepting Rs 500/1,000 bank notes now.

“A customer from outside had placed an order of Rs 1 lakh with us and he paid the amount yesterday evening only in notes of Rs 500/1,000. We are wondering how to change these notes. Now on, we have asked our customers to pay later when they have Rs 100 notes, said a shopkeeper at Mangaldas Market.

A hawker here said, “Yesterday, I did a business of Rs 10,000, mostly in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Today, when I went to the wholesale market in Dadar, they refused to accept these notes. Even there are no customers since morning,” he said.

Various trade bodies have also advised their members to be aware of agents and dalals promising them to convert black money into white.

Demonetisation: Jewellery sales take hit at Zaveri Bazaar

Mumbai:City’s wholesale and retail market for bullion, Zaveri Bazaar, witnessed lacklustre trade today as sale of gold jewellery slumped owing to scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes by government as part of its clamp down on black money and corruption.

“After brisk buying at higher rates for gold till late night on Tuesday, the bullion market witnessed lacklustre trading activity today following ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. People are withholding their purchases of gold jewellery till higher denomination notes will come under circulation,” said Ajit Shah, a leading jeweller.

The industry is already passing through bad phase due to lower demand despite ongoing wedding season. We hope things will improve in the near future, he said.

The demand for gold during ‘Dhanteras’, the gold buying festival and Diwali, remained moderate compared to last year.

Retailers in the city blame the slowdown in economy to global factors.

After a muted Navratri and Dusshera, gold demand saw a slight pickup, but it was mostly on the back of discounts and festive offers.

“Government’s decision to ban old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will see people having more faith in the precious metal than the currency notes. Though, the measure has created havoc for a little while, it’s going to be good for country,” said RiddiSiddhi Bullions Director Prithviraj Kothari.

But perhaps, the biggest factor affecting domestic demand is the continued push towards regulation and accountability that the government is levelling in general, including the gold market.

PTI