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Nobody wants change
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 Coins in plenty are becoming a problem for traders and banks in
Madurai.
“Traders are not able to pay coins in the banks because they refuse to accept them. They are not able to reject coins when the customers buy products from them because their trade will be affected,” says S Rethinavelu, Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president.
It is a peculiar situation in Tamil Nadu where banks blatantly refuse to accept coins due to paucity of staff and space, he said.
According to a rough estimate, coins worth more than Rs 50 lakh remain idle in Madurai city alone. “Our capital is locked,” said Marisamy, a member of the rival Tamil Nadu Vyaparigal Sangam. “We are not able to buy goods...We are not able to cope up with the problem of plenty...and traders’ economy is crippled,” he said.
Rethinavelu asked the Reserve Bank of India to stop minting the coins till the coins already locked were effectively circulated. Alternatively, it could suggest ways to banks to make the coin circulation spread, he said.
Ten paise, five paise and 20 paise coins worth several crores of rupees are already being rejected by the public and are finding their way to scrap dealers. The government should ensure that 25 paise coins did not meet the same fate, said a top bank official.
 There was a time when coins had to be changed by paying extra. “For example, once we had to pay Rs 100 for Rs 95 worth of coins. Now the situation is topsy-turvy”, a bank official said.
He also suggested that alterations could be done in ATM machines so that they could also dispense coins. Rethinavelu suggested that RBI should immediately order that banks accept coins and also order the banks to have exclusive rooms for storing coins.
Many cooperative banks were crippled as their capital is locked in coins, according to a Joint Registrar of Cooperatives.
Marisamy, another merchant, suggested that the government could distribute coins to road contract workers, farm labourers, etc. The new coins should be distributed through rural banks for wider circulation, he suggested. (Agencies)
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