The Reflex action of Indian Retail to the Historic Decision
Tuesday evening, 8th of November 2016, when Mr. Modi made announcement on national television that Rs 500 & Rs 1000 notes won’t be a legal tender from midnight, it triggered a beam of shock and astonishment across the nation. A master stroke by our PM to purge corruption is much appreciated by majority of us Indians. While many hunt ways to sneak through the situation others are cashing on the opportunity to their advantage.
Mobile wallet companies’ gain
This overnight move has pulled millions of consumers across the nation to fill up their wallets for offline transactions. Companies like Paytm and freecharge, My Airtel have experienced a phenomenal growth in the overall traffic on their platform within hours of the ban announced.
As per Paytm, the company has recorded about 400% growth in the transaction value of offline payments and about 1000% growth to the wallet money.
Freecharge, another mobile payment and commerce company, noted a rapid overnight leap of 12 times in the average wallet balance.
“This extraordinary rush witnessed is clearly a result of this big announcement and surely a biggest boost to creating a cashless India,” said Govind Rajan, CEO at Freecharge.
Retailers’ advantage
Within minutes after the decision, retail majors like Future Retail (Big Bazaar) were seen coming up with their unique promotional campaigns to cash on this opportunity. Customers were urged to shop from their Big Bazaar, Ezone, Brand Factory and Home centre stores across the nation till Tuesday midnight. Various other retailers announced acceptance of Rs 500 & 1000 notes for a day only for any purchase made. Even Meena Bazaar, famous bridal wear retailer accepted banned currency for a day.
Meanwhile the ban seems to set a huge blow to the CoD driven e-commerce industry. Though welcoming the decision as a bold step towards digital payment, the various e-commerce players are seen opting for measures to fight the circumstances currently and help counter drop in sales.
Amazon India has temporarily withdrawn CoD payment option for new orders. Customers who have already placed orders before Tuesday midnight have been advised to pay using their cards or in valid currency notes. As per their spokesperson, they are also working on to launch electronic payment options soon to offer seamless shopping experience.
Snapdeal and Flipkart have urged consumers to pay in valid currency notes for the orders already placed. While Snapdeal for the time being, has restricted its CoD orders to Rs 2000, Flipkart has fixed the bar at Rs 1000.
Despite experiencing initial hiccups, the announcement aimed at curbing corruption, black money, fake currency and terrorism is definitely accepted as a historic decision to reclaim our “BHARAT- SONE KI CHIDIYA.”
