A Unique Experiment Underway In Telangana's Food Market, Buy Vegetables With Tokens Instead Of Currency

Most of India’s business environment has been shaken up by the recent move of demonetization by the government. People are facing problems due to cash crunch and markets have been affected due to the scrapping of the currency notes. Many efforts are being made by individuals to find loopholes to ensure smooth transactions in the absence of new notes.

In a bid to cope with the scarcity of the new currency notes, the Telangana State Marketing Department has set up an Aadhar card-based micro ATM counter at Kukatpally Rythu Bazaar (Farmers Market) which dispenses tokens to buy groceries.

The Customers who have an Aadhaar-linked account can take tokens of Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20 denominations from the counter of Industrial Development Financial Corporation (IDFC) by providing their bank account details and thumb impression and then use those tokens as money to make purchases at the market.

This eased the cash crunch problem of the people visiting the market. The money is debited or deducted from their bank account and the vendors accepting these tokens also get money credited to their accounts immediately. Leftover tokens are handed back to the IDFC counter te receive that amount in cash.

IDFC representatives also help the vendors and farmers who have no bank accounts open new accounts.

“Ninety-five consumers used the facility during the experiment timing from 9 AM to 6 PM on Friday. The trial will be extended further if it turns out to be successful,” said T Harish Rao, Minister of Irrigation and Marketing, who visited the mobile counter, as reported by The Times of India.

State Bank of India also started a similar initiative in Andhra Pradesh to help people make purchases without any cash.