Where is the change???

A well and happy mood of a person turns off when he gets some toffees instead of small change by the shopkeepers which leads to major and hot arguments later.

But what is the fault of these innocent shopkeepers if the city is facing the huge shortage of currency coins in denomination of Re1, 2 and 5?

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) supplies the currency coins to the currency chests of city. These chests further circulate the coins and notes to the various bank branches located in city. And then the banks deal with the public in providing them with currency coins and notes according to their demands.

Sharing a heated argument due to this issue, Piyush Chawla, utters, “Recently I visited a chemist shop to purchase some medicines. I got very annoyed when the shopkeeper gave me a 5 rupee coin with fist full of toffees instead of providing me with a ten rupee note. I asked him that why he is not providing me with a ten rupee note simply. He gave an excuse of shortage of small notes. He lied as I saw various ten rupee notes in his cash box. I started arguing with him and later he revealed that there is actual shortage of small currency coins and notes. I came back as people around the shop too supported the guy.”

“The most benefited people with the scarcity of coins are the auto and rickshaw drivers who do not provide the exact amount back to the customers”, rues, another local, Saloni Pasricha.

Talking to me, another resident, Sh. Kamlesh Sharma, reveals one of the hidden reasons behind this scarcity, “What people today do is after they get coins of any small amount, they keep them in their piggy banks or in their almirah lockers. They save them so that these could not be used again as they are of thinking like 25 paisa coin these coins would also one day gets farewell.”

Commenting against this reason and providing with the solution, Rajesh Khanna, a computer dealer, states, “We should put some coins in our pockets instead of placing them in our cupboards while leaving home. This would help the coins circulating from one pocket to other which in turn would solve the problem of shortage of small coins.”

Even the banks too claim the shortage of coins of small amount especially of Rs 5.

S. Jagjit S Daang, Senior Manager of a government bank located near Lajpat Nagar revealed to me years back when I interviewed him, “Yes there is acute shortage of small currency coins especially of rupees 5. We don’t have a particular system to supply coins to people. We provide people with coins as per their demands. If they need a huge amount then we can’t refuse them to give. Recently I gave coins worth rupees ten thousand to a shopkeeper. We can’t help if there is shortage as the currency chests provides equal amounts to all branches. And we cannot demand from RBI directly.”

J.S. Rana, General Manager of main currency chest located at Model Town, refused to comment on this note and said while I interviewed him, “We are not authorized to give any statement to media.”