Bengaluru, DHNS: Restaurants and provision stores here have switched to an informal credit arrangement.

The coastal districts of Mangaluru and Udupi don’t have Rs 500 notes in circulation yet. Lead bank manager Raghav Yejamanya expects supplies from Monday.

A bank source said a majority of ATMs were yet to be calibrated, and thus not prepared to receive Rs 500 notes.Shopkeepers are accepting cheques from regular customers, and marking dues on chits.

Some restaurants are also offering credit. “If the customer is a regular, he can update his accounts and continue to eat here,”?said a cashier.

Suresh, boat owner in Malpe, is under pressure from his workers. “I pay them a partial salary for their daily expenses. This time, I will pay them their dues once the situation improves,”?he says.

Informal credit

Mohammed, who sells fish, was accepting scrapped currency till Friday.

He is thinking of an informal credit arrangement on the lines of the restaurants and the provision stores.

Scrapped currency

At least one company is giving its salaries in scrapped currency. “I had no option but to take it,” an employee said. He has received Rs 20,000 in banned notes.

Trawl Boat Fishermen's Association President Nithin Kumar says his trade had been getting by, with co-operative societies accepting scrapped currency for diesel till Friday. “We will know the real problems next week,”?he says.

Demonetisation has hit fisherwomen who go out and sell their catch. “Returning change is not easy,” he says. The owner of a printing press is switching to bank payments.

“I have asked all my employees to open accounts so that I can issue cheques or pay them through online money transfers,”?he said.