38-year-old Ravi Kumar Sahu spent his life savings from 20 years of work in the leggings business.
New Delhi:
On November 1, 38-year-old Ravi Kumar Sahu spent his life savings from 20 years of working to invest in a leggings business in New Delhi. His joy of starting his own business was short-lived, as a week later Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the ban on 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and his orders dried up. Now, he and his family have to borrow money to survive.
Mr Sahu gave NDTV a peek into his life after the notes ban. Displaying the pile of unsold leggings, Mr Sahu said, "This stock of leggings has been unsold for the last 20 to 25 days. We have been waiting for an order so that we can sell it."
His suppliers have stopped placing orders due to the cash crunch. "After the notes ban, business has been gravely affected. Whoever I used to supply now says there is no money to place orders?" Mr Sahu said. He claims his business has come to a halt.
NDTV then travelled from Mr Sahu's house in New Delhi's Okhla to Gandhi Nagar, a clothes market, to enquire if things have gotten any better?
"Is there any work?" he asked his supplier Suriname Singh. To which his Mr Singh said, "Orders are coming in, though it is a bit sluggish. To establish a system in the country, some problems are bound to come up but everything is okay. Work is going on."
Mr Sahu is the only breadwinner in a family of four.