The sale of fish is now less than half of what they were sold earlier.
Kolkata's famous fish markets have been badly hit ever since the government announced banning of old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes, as most of them function on a day to day basis with cash transactions. Fish and rice is staple food in most of West Bengal but with a currency crunch sales are down.
Usually noisy, the fish markets have now gone silent with no customers.
It is unimaginable at Jadu Babu's Bazaar in Bhowanipore area of Kolkata that fish vendors can find time for a snack in the morning. However, since customers simply cannot buy as much as earlier due to shortage of currency, the vendors are now finding time to talk to each other and even crack a joke.
The customers who are trickling in also complain. "It's a huge problem at fish markets. I can't give anyone change and they all say pay later. How long can I continue like this?" Srabonti Chowdhury told NDTV.
"The wholesellers are not accepting old notes. There is hardly any stock now. They are asking for cheques. We are small businessmen. How will we give them cheques?" explains Lalu Chaudhury, a fish vendor.
Most of the vendors at retain fish markets buy just enough to sell in a day and pay whole sellers immediately. Buying on credit or paying through cheques is unthinkable for them, they say. Nowadays they are selling less than half of what they were selling earlier.
"Earlier we would sell ten to 15 kilos. Now we are not even selling ten kilos," fish vendor Satish Chaudhury told NDTV.
At wholesale fish markets, the situation is the same with some even fearing closure. From supplying 1,000 metric tonnes of fish the supply has come down to around 350 metric tonnes at the Howrah fish market. Vendors say they are managing with losses at the moment but it's getting increasingly difficult to continue and they hope the fish loving Bengali is back to buying fish soon.