In what could be a knee-jerk reaction to the RBI announcement that ₹2,000 notes will be pulled from circulation, many fuel outlets belonging to oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the State and some restaurants are refusing to accept them from customers.
A dealer in the city said many had begun to panic since they experienced harassment from Income Tax (I-T) officials after the demonitisation exercise of November 2016. “We have been asked by banks to fill in details of ₹2,000 notes in separate challans when we deposit them into our accounts. It shows that our transactions are being tracked. The I-T officials look at us as if we are crooks. We don’t want to get into trouble for anything,” he said.
Another dealer in the city’s outskirts said they had started getting ₹2,000 notes in small quantities. “The dealer networks have been advising us to accept the notes, but to ensure that, we should not accept notes beyond the transactions’ value. We also shouldn’t deposit an amount exceeding the day’s collection in bank accounts,” he said.
