Mobile wallets a hit at INA market

New Delhi: Cash-strapped INA market is slowly returning to normalcy as businesses have started to transact online. From tobacconists to fruit vendors, mobile wallets have become quite a hit with local retailers.

Ritu Batra, a local fruit vendor whose business halved in the days following the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes, said she has recently started accepting money through Paytm and MSwipe. According to her, barely few shops in the South Delhi market had card swipe machines. She said her current account in a government bank doesn’t allow her the facility to accept payments through credit and debit cards. Many stores in the market have put up posters to deter customers with old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations. A poster in front of a meat shop said: “Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes not accepted. Please pay with Rs 100 notes.” However, many grocery and garment stores have pasted stickers near their cash counters saying they accept payment through mobile wallets.

Rajender Gupta, a grocery store owner, said  that with mobile wallets becoming popular with customers and businesses alike, sales are slowly picking up. But the ongoing liquidity crunch due to withdrawal of large currency notes, some of the businesses are still affected in a big way. A customer executive at Duggal Forex (P) Ltd said the currency exchange business has taken a big hit due to the demonetization move. “The business will get back on track only when banks start giving us cash,” the executive said.

Manoj Kumar, who has been running a flower shop in the INA market for last 30 years, said he is yet to start transacting online. The sales had plummeted following the withdrawal of high-value currency notes, but it is slowly picking up due to the ongoing marriage season, he said.