If necessity is the mother of invention then surely being cash starved can give a new dimension to the understanding of money laundering. Only here, one does not need to stash it in some tax haven abroad or in banks in some other countries, but keep it at some market shed such as at Khwairamband Keithel. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes to crack down on black money, check the fund flow to terrorist organisations and pull up money hoarders, banks across the country are being pressed hard to meet the growing demand for lower denomination notes in exchange for the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. Moreover there has also been a restriction on the amount that one may withdraw from the bank and hence there is acute shortage of ready cash with majority of the people. The debate is still raging over the decision of the Prime Minister and while the debate will rage on, it is now more than clear that some people have managed to find the loopholes and are making a killing out of the shortage of cash or lower denomination notes across the country. Manipur too has been facing this severe cash crunch and as usual there have emerged some ‘extremely enterprising’ people who have managed to fatten their wallets by setting up a ‘money bazar’. This is what has been happening right under the nose of the law enforcing agencies in the State.
And so it is that while serpentine queues can be seen outside every bank with people turning up to exchange the demonetised notes with the
legal
tenders and some queuing up to withdraw money from the banks within the limit spelt out, some ‘enterprising people’ have been making a killing selling lower denomination notes. So high is the demand that the exchange rate shot up to the rate of Rs 400 in one hundred rupee note for a Rs 500 note from the earlier rate of Rs 450 for a Rs 500 note. So today it is that Rs 800 in lower denominations can be bought or exchanged for a Rs 1000 note which has been demonetised. A roaring business it is, if one takes into consideration the point that each seller makes a profit of at least Rs 20,000 per day selling the lower denomination notes. The notes are of course being sold by elderly women who have been selling small changes at a premium, but the bigger question is from where are they are getting the lower denomination notes ? A question which should have caught the attention of the State Government, the moment it made it to the newspaper. This is where a nexus between the women note peddlers and those in position of laying their hands on the lower denomination notes becomes a distinct possibility.
Source: The Sangai Express
