Striking it rich with pocket change!

HYDERABAD: If you are one of those who don’t often carry coins jingling in your pocket, you would have got frustrated looks from many a shopkeepers. “Change nahi hai, bhai,” they say glumly at the prospect of losing a customer. It was in such a situation that brokers came started selling coins of different denominations, pocketing a neat profit for themselves. There are more than 750 such brokers in the twin cities with each of them earning nearly Rs 1,000 a day. These people stand in queues at the Reserve Bank of India from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m every Monday to Friday and exchange money for coins. They then sell these coins to shopkeepers and charge Rs 5 for every Rs 100 they sell. In total, these brokers may withdraw up to Rs 1 crore from RBI in a single day!A broker K Nageswar says, “I supply the change I collect in shops and take a commission of `5 per `100. Everyday I supply coins worth Rs 20,000 and earn Rs 1,000.” He adds that his colleagues supply coins worth anywhere between Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 per day according to their capacity and contacts with shops in the city. “We have some threats from RBI officials and city policemen but manage to get away by offering them some money. After all, it is our profession and we have to do it everyday. We do the business in a group because of security problems,” he adds.But apart from giving warnings from time to time, RBI officials say they cannot do anything. “The brokers are like any other customers for us. It’s not our business to know what they do outside with the change,” says S V Patil, assistant general manager of RBI.And sure enough, some brokers sell the coins immediately after stepping out of the RBI building. “Some brokers sell around the RBI to customers who do not want to stand in queue,” says R Anjappa, owner of a sugarcane juice shop in front of the RBI. When RBI officials warn them against it, they quickly go to the sides of the building and carry out their business, adds K Balaram, an RBI security guard.Saifabad police inspector V Umender also says they do not allow brokers to sell coins around the RBI building. Moreover, they have also received a complaint from State Bank of India officials that the brokers crowding the place make it difficult for genuine customers to get change from RBI. But shopkeepers in the city feel these brokers are a godsend. Y Kameswara Rao, a sweet shop owner says, “I cannot spend my time waiting in a queue to get coins. So I buy coins of Rs 1, Rs 2 and Rs 5 denominations and bundles of Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes from brokers. I have my personal brokers who I call up whenever I need change. They even supply it to me within two hours of my call.”The RBI general manager adds that there are no rules that prevent the brokers from getting change at the bank. “If we find someone coming in everyday, we can only dissuade them verbally but cannot force them out.” He even adds that what the brokers do is not illegal. “It is a kind of service or self-employment. This business is found everywhere in the country,” says Patil.But it is the lack of rules that worry other bank officials like B Spandan, probationary officer at Syndicate Bank. He says, “In such a situation, genuine customers will have no choice but to leave in frustration.”