Cash flow becomes easy at trade fair

New Delhi: The India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) has taken various measures to facilitate cashless transactions for the participants (including artisans from MSME, CAPART, EPCH, NMFDC) and exhibitors at the ongoing India  International   Trade  Fair (14-27 November 2016)  at   Pragati   Maidan,  New    Delhi.

A set of service providers has been given access to exhibitors at IITF to offer services for cashless transactions to exhibitors/visitors. The number of ATM machines, including Mobile ATM, has been increased from 2 to 14.

The State Bank of India has tied up with AXIS Bank to provide a sufficient number of swipe machines to exhibitors to facilitate the payment transactions by visitors through debit or credit cards.

For small artisans and exhibitors, SBI has been tied up to open bank accounts, if needed, on site, to enable them to receive the cashless transactions through swipe machines.

Arrangements of swipe machines at ticket counters at Gate 1 and 2 to facilitate the sale of entry tickets.

PayTM and Freecharge are making arrangements to facilitate cashless transactions at IITF, Pragati Maidan through digital wallets.

While the above are mostly measures taken by the authorities concerned, the business class isn’t far behind in easing the lives of shoppers. “We are accepting all notes. Rs 500, Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000 — all notes. People can buy anything for the full amount of the old currency. However, we cannot give change,” a woman trader said to a news agency.

Sales personnel at the stalls by Afghans, Chinese, Thai and South Koreans are, however, bewildered by their customers’ act of offering them notes that have been demonetised.

Reacting to the question as to why there is no Pakistani stall on the venue this year, a Pakistani High Commission official said that the traders of that country were denied visa this season.

In the meantime, in the India outside Pragati Maidan, businessmen and corporate houses have proposed that they would pay salaries in advance using the new currency notes and hire retired bank officials to deal with the situation of cash crunch.

Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister and a trusted friend of Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia believes this year’s trade fair is worthless. “It is a sad event from the point of view of trade. When there is no trade, what is the significance of the fair then? We are following a mere custom to participate in it,” he had said while inaugurating the Delhi Pavilion on 15 November.