Note ban affects book fair too; publishers see 20 per cent dip in sales

Gandhi Kannadhasan, President of Bapasi, which organises the fair every year, said that there has been a 20 per cent impact on the sales this year. However, he conceded that a large percentage of the transactions was done through debit/credit cards and platforms like Paytm. “Earlier, people were highly conservative about using plastic money. But after demonetisation, we saw a high usage of debit and credit cards. 

We have also introduced tokens, which people can buy and spend for smaller denominations, solving the problem of not having enough small change to pass around,” he said. Senthil Kumar S, a stall manager for Kizhakku Pathippagam, said that 90 per cent of their sales was through cashless means. “Over the last few years, we had 70 per cent of cash transactions and only 30 per cent by plastic money. This year, we had only 10 per cent of cash payments. Only 15 per cent of the people this year chose Paytm and other means. Swiping debit/ credit cards remains the most popular means of transactions,” he said. 

For some stall owners, who were unable to procure a card swiping machine, the sales took a definite hit. Lakshmanan R, manager of Priya Nilayam, said that their sales dropped by 25-30 per cent, compared to last year. “We couldn’t get a card swiping/POS machine on time from our current bank account, since there was a waiting period of six months,” he said. 

Kumaresan B, an employee of Aruna Publication, said customers are using the book fair to get some small change. “Even for a purchase of Rs 50, customers give a Rs 2,000 note. That causes a huge problem. People are aware of options like Paytm but many don’t know to use it. Five customers in a day opt to pay through Paytm. But yes, sales have come down as people are reluctant to buy,” he concluded.

Women and children contributed to almost 80 per cent of the crowds at the book fair this year. Kannadhasan said that earlier, men made up for a large part of the crowd. “Over the last few years, we have been seeing more women and children attend the book fair, which is a heartening sight. This year, 60 per cent of women and children constituted the footfalls. Most of the mothers are encouraging their children to buy books to inculcate the habit of reading, especially in our times of mobiles and iPad driven entertainment,” he added.