Indian Express
Zahid Rafiq : New Delhi, Mon Jun 15 2009, 03:23 hrs
On the pavements of a teeming Chandni Chowk, old curio stalls are selling glittering new coins. And it is the new coins that collectors seem to prefer over the old.
Sitting on the pavement, 31-year-old Arun Aggarwal, a coin-seller, recently discovered a strange public obsession for the new 10 and five rupee coins released by the RBI in the past few years. Aggarwal is now selling these for Rs 12 and Rs 7 respectively.
He is not alone. Most money changers and old coin sellers have caught the trend and their businesses are now thriving.
These coins were minted by the Reserve Bank of India in 2006 and 2008, but they had not hit the market till recently. RBI spokesperson Raghu Raj also has no idea why these coins are being sold in the market, he told Newsline.
Customers milling around makeshift collectors’ haunts, meanwhile, looked unfamiliar with the shiny steel and copper-coloured currency.
“The coin is unique and I’ll show it to everyone I know. I don’t think any of them have seen it yet. I first thought it was a fake. I now know it is real but I won’t spend it,” said Vineet Bhardwaj, 24, who works with a multinational company. Bhardwaj bought two 10-rupee coins for Rs 24. “I know it sounds stupid but this is a collector’s item.” The 10-rupee coins were minted in 2006.
The 8-gram bimetallic coin with nickel-copper on one side and ferrous steel on the other, was designed by the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Its theme is ‘unity in diversity’.
Outside Geeta Studio in Chandni Chowk, a thickset man in his fifties sits in his little curio shop, displaying two bowls full of these coins.
The coins attract a few onlookers and the crowd swells.
Soon, the entrance to the studio is barred and the curio shop is seen doing brisk business. The discoloured Victorias are pushed back and the Lincolns remain semi-hidden. But the new coins are selling.
“Which country does this coin belong to?” asks Waseem Ahmad peering into one of the bowls.
His hands fiddle with the coins and he finally picks one up. “India ke hain, kahin aur nahi milenge. Sirf hamare paas hain. (These are Indian and you won’t find them anywhere. Only I sell them),” replies the trader. Ahmad, 31, a software designer, buys one.
“We have never done so much business as we have in the last 20 days. I have sold many of them, yet more and more customers keep pouring in,” says an equally busy Aggarwal.
Aggarawal buys the coins from an agent for Rs 10.50 in bulk and sells it for Rs 12 each.
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