With Mumbai's jewellers accepting 'worthless' cash in exchange of gold and diamonds, the city went on a late night shopping overdrive on Tuesday to get rid of cash for gold
2nd Diwali? Mumbai's jewellers work all night to turn 'black' into gold
Immediately after the PM’s televised announcement, Mumbaikars made a dash for jewellery stores located on MG Road, Ghatkopar to buy jewellery. The stores remained opened till before 3 am, after which shop owners were forced to down shutters by the police. Pics/ Bipin Kokate
Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s announcement turned out to be a win-win situation for Mumbai’s gold jewellers on Tuesday, with many describing it as a “second Diwali” of sorts.
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At 1 am, Ghatkopar’sMG Road, which houses many jewellery shops, was bursting with life with cars parked on the road and many waiting for their turn to enter the store. Shilpi Jewellers in Andheri (West) also saw customers till as late as 3 am.
According to jewellers, the average shopping by each customer was around Rs 50,000, while a few also purchased gold worth over a lakh rupees.
However, due to the chaos, the police was later forced to intervene and get many of the stores to down its shutters in the wee hours of the morning.
The stores remained opened till before 3 am, after which shop owners were forced to down shutters by the police.
“Shops are not allowed to stay open this late. Hence, we forced them to close the shutters,” said one of the several police officials, present at the spot.
Jewellery stores, though, hit an unexpected jackpot. In fact, Sejal Jewellers in Ghatkopar claimed that their business was far better than this year’s Dhanteras celebrations, when people traditionally buy gold.
Following warning from the cops, Shilpi Jewellers in Andheri (W) had kept its shutter half-down, but continued to entertain customers even after midnight
“Our money is white as we have the sale on record. Hence, we won’t have any problem exchanging these notes later,” said one of the store owners, who didn’t seem to be anxious about hoarding the demonetised currency.
Another jeweller, on condition of anonymity, said, “People are buying gold coins, diamonds and gold jewellery left, right and centre. The good thing is that they can buy jewellery up to R2 lakh without having to show their PAN card.”
A few stores decided to remain shut to avoid attention
Speaking to mid-day, a harried customer said, “The announcement has come so suddenly. What will we do with all our R500 and R1,000 notes? Since they are soon going to be redundant, buying gold is a valuable option.”
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