The first Saturday of the Numaish and the throngs of people flocking to the annual exhibition at Nampally erases all the misgivings about the 46-day carnival coming in the backdrop of demonetisation. But there’s a twist.
In addition to the usual spiel about fixed price, many shops at this year’s Numaish have the additional signage ‘Paytm accepted here’ or ‘All cards accepted’.
“All the ticket counters will have swipe machines so that visitors don’t have to worry about money while coming to the exhibition,” informed Aditya Margam, Secretary of the Exhibition Society.
There are 2,600 stalls with many of them, even vendors who sell one hangar rack of clothes, accepting cashless transactions. Selling an item of women’s garments for Rs. 150 is Imran and the signage is clear. ‘Fixed price- Rs.150 Paytm accepted’ with the stall owner’s name, Syed Ghouseuddin, at the bottom. “These are early days. The business will pick up from today. Usually it takes about 10 days after the inauguration for the business to pick up. Every day about 8 to 10 transactions are being made on Paytm,” he says.
“We have three functioning ATMs while a mobile ATM has been drafted into service by the Telangana State Cooperative Bank from 5 p.m. We have an RBI stall where they are doing two-fold service, one of educating the visitors and another where we are asking them to educate the stall holders about cashless transactions,” informs Mr. Margam.
The business is brisk even for the young boys, girls and women who sell knick-knacks, popcorn, balloons, kulfi and toys which retail for Rs. 10 upwards.
But the crunch seems to be the use of cash when it comes shopping for higher amounts.
“People are no longer using cash for even small amounts like Rs. 100 or Rs. 200. They are flashing cards and we have to accept it. The situation is similar in Kashmir, musibat hai (it is trouble),” says Irshad Ahmed Bhat from Srinagar. Irshad is among the dozens of traders from across the country who come calling at Hyderabad for the annual exhibition. “We bring saffron, apricots, walnuts from Kashmir, but a few other goods we source locally and sell it here,” says Mr. Irshad.
“ Sabhi hathkandey humey aatey hai jee (we know all the tricks of the trade). From the day Mr. Modi announced ban on Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes, we began using Paytm and accepting card transactions in Delhi. We are doing good business here,” says Baba Bhai at Zam Zam Creations, a stall whose USP is Pakistani dresses. “No. We don’t have any Pakistan connection, we just get the stuff from there and sell it here,” says Baba Bhai.
