India’s demonetisation hits border trade

Several hundred trucks, loaded with goods being imported by Bangladesh, remained stuck in India's Petrapole border point, as their drivers are in trouble following the Indian government's overnight demonetisation of INR 500 and INR 1,000 currency notes. This has slowed down trading through the Petrapole-Benapole land ports. The rupee crisis has hit both the truckers and the traders hard, as cargo schedules are now running late.
Situations were similar in other land ports along the Bangladesh-India border, said traders and C&F agents. According to truck drivers, the demonetisation of higher denomination notes had virtually rendered them penniless in the middle of trips, as the few smaller denomination notes with them ran out fast. The truckers complained they were unable to pay for food, or parking, or even buy knick-knacks for personal use.
At present, on both sides of the border, most Indian truckers—from faraway places like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Andhra Pradesh—can be seen killing time, playing cards to deal with boredom. According to them, they do not have enough cash to even release their trucks from the check-post. They are now forced to wait for funds to arrive from distant locations in India, before they can release their trucks. Truck drivers Jubendra Debnath and Ranjan Singh, stranded at Petrapole due to non-availability of cash, said they did not have any usable money with them. Because of this crisis, they are entering Benapole three to seven days later than their scheduled arrival. Because of inability to pay the parking charges at truck bays, the truckers said, they have been forced to stay in the port area for days, leaving many truckers carrying imported cargo in serious trouble. Commenting on the situation, Mustafizur Rahman Sajan, the president of Benapole Clearing and Forwarding Agents (C&F Agents) Association, said the ban on the high denomination rupee notes has cast a shadow on import and export through the land port, cutting down imports heavily, causing losses to all. He, however, expressed hope that the situation should ease within a month's time.

Indias demonetisation hits border trade

Several hundred trucks, loaded with goods being imported by Bangladesh, remained stuck in Indias Petrapole border point, as their drivers are in trouble following the Indian governments overnight demonetisation of INR 500 and INR 1,000 currency notes. This has slowed down trading through the Petrapole-Benapole land ports. The rupee crisis has hit both the truckers and the traders hard, as cargo schedules are now running late. Situations were similar in other land ports along the Bangladesh-India border, said traders and CF agents. According to truck drivers, the demonetisation of higher denomination notes had virtually rendered them penniless in the middle of trips, as the few smaller denomination notes with them ran out fast. The truckers complained they were unable to pay for food, or parking, or even buy knick-knacks for personal use. At present, on both sides of the border, most Indian truckersfrom faraway places like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Andhra Pradeshcan be seen killing time, playing cards to deal with boredom. According to them, they do not have enough cash to even release their trucks from the check-post. They are now forced to wait for funds to arrive from distant locations in India, before they can release their trucks. Truck drivers Jubendra Debnath and Ranjan Singh, stranded at Petrapole due to non-availability of cash, said they did not have any usable money with them. Because of this crisis, they are entering Benapole three to seven days later than their scheduled arrival. Because of inability to pay the parking charges at truck bays, the truckers said, they have been forced to stay in the port area for days, leaving many truckers carrying imported cargo in serious trouble. Commenting on the situation, Mustafizur Rahman Sajan, the president of Benapole Clearing and Forwarding Agents (CF Agents) Association, said the ban on the high denomination rupee notes has cast a shadow on import and export through the land port, cutting down imports heavily, causing losses to all. He, however, expressed hope that the situation should ease within a months time.