Demonetisation brings windfall for unemployed youths in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Demonetisation has unwittingly spawned a cottage industry triggering brisk economic activity and ushering ache din for a whole new workforce that was quick to spot a business opportunity amidst a cash crisis and make a small fortune at a time when several others are struggling to safeguard theirs.
Several people who are unable to --- or do not want to --- visit the banks and post offices to exchange their Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes are seeking help of the enterprising members of this workforce that has propped up after the high denomination currency notes were withdrawn from the system.
Their services, which of course come at a price, include standing in long serpentine queues outside the banks to exchange your demonetised currency notes, deposit them into your bank account and also share intelligence inputs on which branch has the smallest queue. TOI spotted a few such “do-gooders” in a queue outside a bank on Ganesh Chandra Avenue on Friday afternoon. How did we spot them? Among all the dejected faces and drooping shoulders, they had a broad smile on their face and spring in their feet.
“The business is good. Several assignments are coming our way. There is hardly any time to waste. It is a different bank every day,” said a 20-something deepak Sharma while urging people ahead of him in the queue to keep moving. The unemployed youth searches for jobs in the morning and gives private tuition in the evening. “I have lot of time. I am using it fruitfully.” Since November 10, he has earned up to s 16,000.
One of his other colleague was stationed at the fag end of the queue at another bank. “I may miss the opportunity today. But I will get some compensation for coming and waiting here. Otherwise I will refuse the job tomorrow,” he said. Their services come with a price. The compensation is a percentage of the total amount exchanged influenced by other factors like the length of the queue and the number of trips to the bank to exchange notes.
“We are charging flat rate of 10 per cent of the total exchangeable amount. But it may vary if the queue is very big and the businessman wants us to make multiple trips,” said another person who has even hired other youths in the locality to do this job. In the business belt of Burrabazar, Posta and Jorabagan, demonetisation has put a brakes on the business and the worse affected are the daily wage labourers, van pullers, goods vehicles drivers and porters. They have also been drawn into the workforce of “money exchangers”.
Several businessmen in the trading hub cancelled the leaves of all their employees. When the shocked workers approached their master, they were told that a special assignment waited them. “Bhaiya (the owner) said that all of us will have to queue up outside the banks and post offices to exchange the old notes for new ones. We were absolved from all our duties at the shop for the next few days,” said a young salesman at the sari shop. Clusters of such “do-gooders” have cropped up in several neighbourhoods in the city. You may even place “bulk orders” with them. Wondering what that is? Well, if you have a big stash of demonetised notes, you can get hire the services of these “do-gooders” for a longer period.
“We have a group of around 12 boys. We are providing a range of services from standing in the queue only once to getting into a contract for multiple exchanges. Our boys will go and queue up outside several banks and post offices and exchange the notes for the clients. Our remuneration depends on the amount that needs to be exchanged and the situation of the queues and the availability of cash in the banks,” said Mohammed Irshad in Mominpore in Port area.
But banks are struggling to cope with them so they introduced the indelible ink. “The same person was coming every day to exchange notes and sometimes even twice a day. We had to oblige because there was no rule to restrict them. That was till we started marking them with indelible ink,” said a teller in a private bank on Ganesh Chandra Avenue.
But this has only provided an impetus to their business. The rates have gone up. But how are they circumventing the indelible ink rule? “Simple. We have introduced more people into the system. There is no dearth of people to do the work specially when other businesses have come to a grinding halt,” said a head hunter.
One man’s poison is another man’s meat. While the entire country and the government are praying that the “cash crises” gets over soon and the queues disappear from outside the bank, the foot soldiers are praying that the agony prolongs. “The entire crisis is generating good business for us. If this stops we will have to think of other means to earn money. It is better if this continues for some more weeks,” said Adarsh, a youth in Posta who otherwise drives a small goods vehicle.