Fifty paise coins may soon be thing of the past as there are few takers for them, despite they being a legal tender.
From small retailers, auto drivers, bus conductors, grocers to customers, everyone seems to be blocking the circulation of 50 paise. But if we go by the rule book, it seems that they are doing it out of ignorance or just for convenience.
They give a volley of reasons to justify their reluctance in accept the coin. "The government should publicise and communicate that the coins are still in use, then only shopkeepers and customers would circulate the coins," says Harminder Kaur, a confectionery owner at the Super Bazaar in the heart of the Capital.
What's more, there is an online community to drive the no-50-paise-please gang! Recently a group of young people have launched a Facebook community titled 'I hate when somebody gives me 50 paise as change!
Some others who are still in the brick-and-mortar age, say since the coin has no value, people don't mind paying the extra. And it seems that they have a point in this age of skyrocketing prices as practically a 50 paise coin would get you nothing now, barring perhaps some cheap toffees for kids.
"Fifty paise does not matter to the rich to whom we cater. They do not mind paying 50 paise extra for a product," says Kamal Jain, who runs the Vardhan Juice Centre near the Shivaji Bridge Railway Station in the Capital.
The authorities, however, clarify that the coin is still a legal tender as the government so far has not expressed any intention to de-notify it.
"The 50 paise is not being de-listed to my knowledge. Not accepting the coin is a punishable offence and the violators could be booked under the IPC," a senior official at the Mint Cell in Mumbai told PTI.
When contacted, RBI spokesperson Alpana Killawala said, "all the banks and RBI counters do accept 50 paise coins when exchanged in lieu of currencies."
Customers, on the other hand, blame shopkeepers for blocking the supply of the coin. "They purposefully want to curtail the supply of 50 paise so as to increase their profit and are keen on giving you candies," says Carl Gracias, an employee with Wipro.
Squarely putting the blame on shopkeepers, Manish Arora a regular buyer of groceries, says, "to ask for the exact change is your right; the shopkeepers are at fault here."
However, it can be noted that the Government Mint, which rolls out coins, has so far not received the annual indent from the government to mint 50 paise coins this year, indicating the declining demand for the coin.
"We have not received any indent for 50 paise for this fiscal, though last year we did mint these coins," the official at the Mint Cell in Mumbai told PTI.
The coins are minted at the four Government Mints in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Noida. It seems that the 'Attanni' is goning to be a part of history.