From mangoes to luxury watches, people look to offload Rs 2,000 notes

People are stepping up purchases of daily essentials, and even premium branded goods, using the soon-to-be-withdrawn Rs 2,000 notes as they aim to sidestep the need to exchange or deposit them at banks.

The Reserve Bank of India announced on Friday the country's largest denomination note will be withdrawn from circulation by the end of September. It comes ahead of state and general elections in the country when, analysts said, cash usage typically spikes, often in unaccounted deals.

The currency exchange is expected to be far less disruptive than a 2016 move to demonetise 86 per cent of the country's currency in circulation overnight.

Read | Cash sales at petrol pump spike to 90% as customers rush to use Rs 2,000 notes

Since the weekend, people have thronged outlets to spend using the Rs 2,000 note to avoid the hassle of queuing up at banks to exchange them or invite scrutiny from the tax department by depositing large sums.

Shops, for their part, eagerly accepted the note, using it as an opportunity to increase sales, several of them said on Tuesday, the first day the exchange was allowed.

"A lot of people are using Rs 2,000 notes to pay for mangoes since Saturday," said Mohammad Azhar, 30, a mango seller near the Crawford Market area in India's financial capital of Mumbai.

"On a daily basis, I get 8-10 notes now. I accept it. I have no option, it's my business. I will deposit everything at once before Sept. 30. There is no fear since the note is valid."

Michael Martis, store manager at a Rado store in a mall in central Mumbai, said his store had seen a 60 per cent-70 per cent increase in Rs 2,000 notes since the withdrawal was announced.

"That has increased our watch sales to 3-4 pieces per day from 1-2 previously," said Martis.

Food-delivery firm Zomato said on its Twitter account on Monday that 72 per cent of the 'cash on delivery' orders were paid in Rs 2,000 notes since Friday.

However, not all shop-owners were as receptive of the notes.

"I don't accept; I won't accept. I don't want to get into the trouble of depositing it with my bank," said a restaurant owner in South Mumbai.

Unlike in 2016, when customers rushed to banks to exchange the scrapped currency notes, bank branches in Mumbai and New Delhi were mostly quiet with a handful of people standing in queues.

Maximum crowds were seen at counters of India's largest lender, State Bank of India, as the bank chose not to ask for any documentation for exchange of up to the maximum allowed Rs 20,000 at one time.