Bengaluru: Exactly two months after the demonitisation, most of the high expectations of the Bengaluru city residents who supported the center’s move surrounding this economical surgical strike evaporated and the city is limping back to cash-based economy defeating all the purposes of the demonitisation exercise.
Adding to the woes of the central government which described the announcement of demonetisation on November 8 as the first step towards moving towards the digital economy, majority of the city residents feel that digital payments are burning their pockets.
One of the issues debated immediately after the demonitisation was that this exercise will help lakhs of city residents who are residing in rented houses to make rent payments through cheques or direct transfer to bank accounts of the house owners. In the first month (December 2016), most of the land lords agreed for cheque payment. But in January 2017, most of the house owners are demanding rent in cash saying payment via cheque/ direct transfer to bank accounts create IT problem for them.
“As per the revised IT rules which are applicable for employee HRA reimbursement, if any house/ building owner charges more than Rs.8, 250 per month as house rent, he should give his PAN number. But 99% of the house owners of Bengaluru refuse to share their PAN numbers and rent payment via cheque or direct online transaction as it forces them to pay Income tax. In the first month of demonitisation, everyone expected that cash crunch will solve this problem. But in January 2017 this hope is destroyed,” said Ramesh Iyyer, a resident of Malleshwaram.
Cash less is costly
Meanwhile post December 31, majority of the city residents are returning to cash payments as all the cash/ RTGS/NEFT payment charges are back. “All the state owned oil firms are offering Rs. 5 concession for online payments for LPG cylinders since December 26, 2016. But bank/ card charges for single payment are Rs. 8. These kinds of charges have forced the people to opt for cash payments instead of online payments,’ says Manju Gowda, a LPG supplier.
According to the home makers it is the case with all the cashless/ wallet payments. “If you transfer any amount from your wallet to your bank account, wallets are charging upto Rs.25 or 5% of the amount per transaction. Cash is the king,” says Shyamala Bhat, another resident of Malleshwaram.
