Petrol pumps across the country witnessed a huge rush of payments in Rs 2,000 notes from people buying fuel after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the withdrawal of the high-value currency from circulation.
Panic struck the streets after RBI’s announcement as people feared another spell of demonetisation.
Cities across the country saw a sudden 10-fold increase in cash payments. According to petrol pump dealers, cash sales of Rs 2,000 notes before Friday’s surprise announcement were only 10 per cent, but now customers were using the withdrawn note to make small purchases of Rs 100/200, expecting petrol pumps to return change.
In Indore, some customers were paying in Rs 2,000 notes while buying fuel worth only Rs 100 for their two-wheelers, an office-bearer of a petrol pumps association told the agency.
Similar scenes were witnessed in Kolkata. "We are getting 10 times higher number of Rs 2,000 currency notes now since the announcement. We used to get 10-15 notes a day, but now it has risen to 130-140 on average," West Bengal Petroleum Dealers Association president Prasenjit Sen told PTI.
He claimed that some of the bank branches are seeking extra details while receiving Rs 2,000 notes.
Petrol pumps and some other daily essential services were allowed to accept old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes after the November 8, 2016 demonetisation of nearly 86 per cent of the currency notes. Petrol pumps, however, soon turned into outlets to launder banned currency notes, leading to the government prematurely withdrawing the facility.
This time too petrol pumps have become outlets to get the withdrawn currency out.
Meanwhile, even jewellers in Kolkata saw a jump of 15-20 per cent in payments in Rs 2,000 notes compared to the weeks before May 19.
However, India Bullion and Jewellers Association president (West Bengal) Ashok Begani said, "There is no panic buying as was witnessed in 2016 when currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations that were in circulation at that time were withdrawn overnight".
Meanwhile, All India Petroleum Dealers Association president Ajay Bansal said, "We also request the RBI to give guidelines to banks for providing enough small denomination notes, especially to petrol pumps in lieu of Rs 2,000 notes, so that we can smoothly service our customers."
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday said that most of the withdrawn Rs 2,000 notes are expected to be returned by the deadline of September 30. He clarified that the impact of the withdrawal on the economy will be "very marginal", adding Rs 2,000 currency notes made up for just 10.8 per cent of the total currency in circulation.
