Hyderabad: The impact of demonetisation and cash crunch in the market has hit vegetable markets. Vegetable prices have plunged by up to 40 per cent compared to last month.

All locally grown vegetables like tomato, onion, green chilli, cabbage, cauliflower, ribbed gourd, bitter gourd, brinjal, field beans, cluster beans and non-local vegetables like carrot, french beans and beet root have become cheaper and are available at less than Rs 25 per kg in wholesale markets and Rythu Bazaars.

Estate officer of Mehdipatnam Rythu Bazaar K.R. Vijay Kumar said the shortage of small change had affected the market after November 8. IDFC Bank was now supporting cashless transactions by issuing Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20 tokens.

“For a week, the number of customers has been increasing by the day. Besides the crisis, the vegetable production has increased. This and the falling demand due to the cash crunch is leading to prices plunging,” he said.

An official from the marketing department said that IDFC Bank was issuing tokens to customers by taking their biometric Aadhaar details and cards.

“At the end of the day, farmers should provide the tokens to the bank representative, who deposits they money to the farmer’s account after Aadhaar authentication,” he said. If the farmer doesn’t have a bank account, the representative opens one in five minutes by taking Aadhaar details.