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Cold reception for Rs 20 coin after unpopularity of Rs 10 coin
With the Centre announcing that it would soon come out with the first ever Rs 20 coin which will be shaped like a 12-edged polygon with design of grains to denote farm dominance in the country, even as the Rs 10 coin remains hugely unpopular both among the general public and bankers, Chennaiites remain sceptical if the new coin will make life easier at all.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
A provision storekeeper M Durairajan at Anakaputhur often refuses to deal with customers who give him Rs 10 and Rs 5 coins. “I often refuse to sell goods to such customers claiming that they are no longer in circulation,” he said. Durairajan is not alone.
It is quite evident that in Chennai and outskirts, most vegetable vendors, retailers and petty shopkeepers ‘deliberately demonetised’ coins a year ago claiming that it was a “big luggage” to carry.
“It is way easier to carry currency notes as they are not heavy and can be stored anywhere. For door-to-door vendors like me, carrying just a few hundred rupees in notes means a few kgs of extra load,” said V Subbamma, a pickle vendor.
Adding to their uncertainties was the rumour that spread across the State that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had declared the old Rs 10-coin invalid soon after the government imposed the demonetisation in 2016.
Amid these rumours, many MTC passengers had complained that conductors were refusing to accept these coins. There were also complaints that even counters at terminals don’t accept these coins.
The conductors, on the other hand, had said that not only did their bags get heavier on account of the coins, but they would also have trouble while counting their earnings at the end of the day.
Even the salesmen of Tasmac shops have been reluctant to accept Rs 10 coins in the last few months. “If we accept Rs 10 coins, it gets mixed up with other coins and later becomes difficult to count at the end of the day,” S Ashok, a salesman in Pozhichalur, said. According to him, the bankers fume when the Rs 10 coins are deposited in large numbers.
Though the Tamil Nadu government issued strict orders to accept Rs 10 coins from the public, most petrol bunks in the city and its surroundings still hesitate to accept them. “Our owner gave us a very small bag, which does not have a strap, for money collection.
It would be difficult to hold the bag for long if the Rs 10 coins were dumped into it,” K Moorty, at Pallavaram petrol bunk, said.
Admitting the difficulty in counting Rs 10 coins if it is in large numbers, a senior officer from a private bank said that some customers come with a large amount of these coins at peak hours. “It becomes difficult to handle them,” he added.
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