Train tickets
People were paying agents for expensive first-class train tickets with old bills and then cancelling them later to get reimbursed in new notes, all in order to get around the tax man. Anil Kumar Saxena, spokesman for Indian Railways, said ticket purchases for first class, air-conditioned compartments, the most expensive category, had surged.
"We usually sell about 2,000 tickets every day," he said. The day after the demonetization measures were announced, that rose to 27,000, Saxena added.
Even small towns like Indore, Siliguri, Asansol, Merut have show train ticket sales reaching Rs 5 lakhs a day.
Loans at low interest
Many hoarders have suddenly turned Samaritans and they are visiting slums and villages asking people if they need money. They are ready to loan out Rs 2 lakh at 1% interest. Some are also giving six months’ free interest. The only condition that prevails is accepting old notes of 500 and 1000. The loan takers are convinced that they can exchange old notes anytime they like.
Buying Rs 100 notes
It has been reported at many places that agents selling 100 rupee notes in exchange of old notes and a small fee have started mushrooming. Black money hoarders are exchanging tons of old notes in this process.
Investing in gold
Jewellers stayed open into the early hours of Wednesday. In Mumbai it was estimated that about 250 kg of gold, worth an estimated Rs 750 lakh rupees at spot prices, was sold in the city within a few hours of the ban of currency notes.
The source said jewellers were paid anywhere between 20 and 65 % above the going rate by buyers snapping up the precious metal with old notes.
