Jan. 6: Cash in your wallet isn't the only casualty of demonetisation. The hands that crafted your wallet are struggling to survive the transition to a cashless economy without bank accounts that they need to open but can't.

Scores of leather manufacturing units in east Calcutta have been forced to scale down production in the absence of workers who don't have bank accounts or keep their money in rural banks in their native villages. Most of these workers have been turning up because they have either not received wages from their employers or have gone to their villages to deposit and encash cheques.

From manufacturing units in Topsia to those in the Calcutta Leather Complex and its adjoining areas, the chorus is about "huge losses" because of production delays and failure to fulfil export commitments.

Rehmat Sheikh is a superviser in a large unit in Topsia that manufactures leather wallets for export to Europe. Last month, he returned to his Murshidabad village to deposit his salary cheque in a co-operative bank account and didn't return until a few days ago. "Long queues for everything," he complained.

Rehmat, who stays in a rented room within walking distance from the factory, isn't amused that he had to travel more than 200km to Murshidabad, where he has an account with a rural bank, to get paid for his labour. "I have been working in this factory for six years and had always received my wages in cash," he said.

Md. Rehmatullah Sheikh, superviser of one of the 50-odd tables at another wallet manufacturing unit, is from Joynagar in South 24-Parganas and visits home once a month for a couple of days. Since November, his leave period has increased because of "bank work".

Those who don't have accounts in any bank are worse off. Many such workers said they had been turned away by public sector banks in Calcutta on various grounds. "Several PSU banks told me I couldn't open an account because my permanent address is Bihar," rued Abdul Hamid Khan, who works in a shoe-manufacturing unit.

A bank manager said anyone whose permanent address was not within a 10km radius of a branch was not eligible to open an account there.

Sharib Ahmed, the director of a leather goods company on Topsia Road, said paying workers had become as big a headache as procurement of raw materials. "I went to a private bank in November to open salary accounts for 250-odd workers. A few days ago, the bank said it could open accounts for only 50 because of a manpower shortage."

Costs have gone up too since demonetisation. A consignment takes 45 days to reach Hamburg in Germany by sea and the cost is Rs 2 a wallet. Delays in production and the rush to meet Christmas and New Year deadlines meant that exporters had to send consignments by air, costing them more than 10 times the usual shipment price.

"We are losing out to other countries," said Imran Ahmed Khan, general secretary of the Calcutta Leather Complex Tanners' Association.