the new normal
Cash had become so ingrained in the real estate industry that it was difficult to make a deal without paying some portion under the table. When Ramanan Laxminarayan, a Princeton University senior research scholar, tried to buy an apartment in the New Delhi area, he was told that he would have to provide 60 percent of the purchase price, about $420,000, in cash to close the deal. Unable to raise such sums, he gave up trying to buy. “I said, ‘Is it legal?’ They said, ‘Of course not,’” Mr. Laxminarayan said.
India’s lavish weddings have taken a big hit. Families that had stashed large amounts of black money to spend in the coming wedding season, which starts in December, are scrambling to make contingency plans. “This whole business is largely in cash,” from the caterer and musicians to the jeweler and ornate saris, said Satish Arora, a caterer and decorator in Faridabad, a city near Delhi.
Several marriages planned for five-star hotels have been downscaled, he said. Now, the best many can manage is “a simple joint reception.”
The luxury goods market also has been flattened. Business at some of Ms. Parikh’s Ensemble shops has dropped 60 percent since Mr. Modi announced his ban, she said. “We don’t know what will be normal in the future,” she said.
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