Guwahati, Nov. 23: The Centre's push for a cashless economy post-demonetisation has led to a substantial surge in demand for debit/credit card swipe machines from small businesses in the Northeast.

Leading banks here have recorded a three to five-fold increase in the number of orders for point of sale (PoS) machines, mainly from urban and semi-urban centres, with cash transactions apparently becoming a "tall order" given the lack of circulation of smaller denomination currency in the market.

The country's largest lender, State Bank of India, has received more than 2,000 applications for PoS machines from across the Northeast in the past three days itself.

"Of them, about 700 orders have come from Guwahati alone," P.V.S.L.N. Murty, the chief general manager of SBI (Northeast circle), told The Telegraph today.

Since the past two days, the bank has carried out an aggressive campaign to make small-time traders here aware about the benefits of the card swipe machine. "Officials from the bank had shared a few tips on how the (PoS) machine operates. We have not decided yet but might place an order if cash transactions become difficult in the coming days," said a grocery shop owner at a municipal corporation market here.

According to Punjab National Bank (PNB), which has 86 branches in the Northeast, the demand for PoS machines has increased five fold in the past six days with orders flowing in from "new clients" -university hostel canteens, doctors, travel agents, beauty parlours, grocers and small-time restaurateurs.

"Retail garment and sweetmeat shops, mobile recharge outlets, small-time shoe traders and hardware shop owners have also applied for the swipe machine. The trend is interesting as prior to demonetisation, many traders were reluctant to apply as they had to pay a commission to the bank," Kamal Deka, the chief manager of PNB Northeast circle, said here.

While a majority of PNB's orders have come from urban centres in Assam, the bank expects a surge in applications from across the Northeast in the coming days. "We have been able to provide only a few PoS machines in the past couple of days because of short supply from vendors outside," he said.

Private banks such as HDFC and ICICI said they too witnessed a jump in the number of applications for PoS machines in the Northeast.

"Requests for PoS machines have increased by at least two fold post-demonetisation in the region. Nationally, there has been a surge in small-ticket transactions while debit card transactions have increased by four times. The value of card transactions has increased three times," an HDFC Bank official told this correspondent.

He said with the Centre's strong push towards digitalisation, new merchantsraders have entered the digital ecosystem.

According to an ICICI Bank spokesperson, debit card transactions in the Northeast have more than doubled in the past week compared to regular volumes.

"Credit card transactions in the country have increased by nearly 40 per cent over regular volumes in the same period while PoS and e-commerce transactions through ICICI Bank debit cards have seen a 70 per cent spurt over regular volumes. The trend is similar in the Northeast," he said.