For Syed Yousuff, the owner of Bengaluru based R.P. Communications, an advertising agency, the post demonetisation days were filled with numerous challenges. One year on, some challenges still remain. “After demonetisation last year, when I went to collect payments from my clients, they offered me old currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500. They told me either you take old notes or wait for payment through cheques. I was sure they wouldn’t pay me later, so I did not have any choice but collected the old notes and then deposited them in my account,” Yousuff told THE WEEK.
This entrepreneur is still dealing with the shock of demonetisation as many of his clients shut down their businesses and defaulted in their payments. Many have not paid till date. “I had lost a lot of clients during this phase. When things started looking up in March and April this year, there was the GST (Goods and Service Tax) wave which further affected my business. Both demonetisation and GST have been implemented with a good intent but I feel that Indian business are not yet ready for such bold steps,” added Yousuff.
On the other hand Anand Kumar Ashiya, the MD and promoter of Moksh Agarbatti Co, recalls the few months following demonetisation last year. “Even before demonetisation was announced, we used to request our employees to open bank accounts but they did not and insisted on receiving their salaries in cash from us. When demonetisation was announced we were not able to give their salaries in cash. We had no choice but to pay them in parts, in the time following which we made it compulsory for all our employees to open a bank account. As many as 300 bank accounts were opened by our employees after demonetisation. Now we pay them only through cheque or make online digital payments to them,” remarked Ashiya.
This businessman says that there were many customers in rural areas who transacted with them only in cash, all of which has been replaced now with digital transactions. “I feel that demonestisation, although had some teething problems, was a very bold move on part of the government and has brought in transparency into the whole system. Even linking of the Aadhaar is a very good move as it will help in bringing in complete transparency,” added Ashiya.
Another businessman, Milan Radhakrishnan, who runs a garment manufacturing business in Bengaluru found the days after demonetisation very challenging. “It affected consumer spending drastically. People were guarded in spending cash as they had very little of it, resulting in the dip of sale of garments in many shops. Though we did not lay off any workers, we have not hired any new ones even till date. I feel that cash alternatives and printing of new currency notes should have been done well in advance and all the systems should have been in place when demonetisation was announced. The problem happened because the government was not ready with an alternative. Rest assured, demonetisation has been a very bold and positive move. The honest tax payers are happy with it,” Radhakrishnan told THE WEEK.
However, the businessman feels that in the scheme of things, the sad part is that many jobs were lost consequentially to demonetisation, and now with GST there is a general decline in the overall business scenario. “New job creation has been nearly zilch, which is a cause of concern. Only new jobs will fuel the growth of our economy,” he said.
