There is a beautiful supermarket on the Science city road in Ahmadabad. I was there this early morning around 6.30 or so. I went out to check out a few things in that quiet area. When we saw this shop open so early in the morning, we thought to check this out too. Lovely arrangement, good stock and a large collection of everything. We were also very impressed with the person who was serving us.
While collecting payment, he paid me one rupee less, as he didnt have a one rupee coin. I didnt mind it but then...out of curiosity, I asked him about the fate of this 'extra' one rupee in his cash box. I wanted to know what happened to this extra money. He promptly told us that all the extra one rupee go to the collection of the shop.
I dont know how many supermarkets like Reliance, Big Bazar, Spencer, Star Bazars etc. are there throughout India. Or how many customers they handle daily? I am sure a little bit of research will reveal a fantastic number of customers going through the cash counters of the supermarkets across India, and 'sacrificing' one rupee each, every day. If we make a very very moderate guess, there will be about 3000 super markets (the actual figures can be three times though, I have no idea). Each super market should be handling a minimum of 500 persons a day (this is a very safe figure) who will be 'leaving' an extra one rupee at the counters. Lets see how extra much one rupee we are generating through this 'one rupee scam'. This is just a very amateur attempt. Not for the economists:
3000 x 500 x Re.1.00 = Rs. 15,000,00/- (Fifteen Lakhs) per day
Or, Rs. 4.5 Croes a month.
I will not be surprised if this figure is even more than 100 Crores a month. because I have calculated only on the basis of 500 customers a day per supermarket, which normally a pan shop gets every day.
Probably the supermarket companies have a plan for this little 'extra' money that they earn by default. I dont know. But I would like to know if there is. And if they dont have any accounting for this 'extra one rupee', then what are they doing with it?
Due to my profession, I had a very long stay outside of India. The supermarkets there (at least where I was) are different. If they do not have the exact change to pay back, then they will actually PAY THE NEXT HIGHER AMOUNT TO THE CUSTOMER, meaning, if they owe you Re. 1/-, and if they dont have that, then they will pay you Rs.2/- and if they dont have that too, then you will be paid Rs.5/- and so on....I haven't seen any supermarket in India doing this.
I will be very happy to 'leave' this extra one rupee every time I go to a supermarket, provided I get an official acknowledgement for it, and THIS MONEY IS COLLECTED BY AN OFFICIAL AGENCY FROM ALL THE SUPERMARKETS IN INDIA TO BE MADE INTO A FUND FOR HEALTH/EDUCATION SECTOR, but certainly not for making the supermarket companies richer by default, and definitely not for paying them a few hundred crores for nothing. Any one have any more information on this?
I am sure, the FDI in the retail sector will look into this also (please! this is not a debate on FDI in Retail sector) and will either look after the customers' interests, or will generate such a fund for social service inputs. Big Bazar, Reliance, D-Mart, Spencer, Star Bazar and others, our loyalty to you will depend on who gives what! Please note.
