Srinagar, Aug 24: It is early morning in a Kashmir Kandur shop (baker shop). Customers are picking up fresh bread. At the counter, alongside the cash box, sits something that would have seemed unfamiliar here a decade ago — a QR code.
A customer takes out a phone, scans the code, enters the amount and walks away.
There is no exchange of notes, no search for change and, increasingly, no need for the shopkeeper to maintain a running credit entry.
The same scene can be found across Kashmir’s markets.
At grocery shops, mutton outlets, chicken shops, vegetable stores and even small roadside businesses, the small square QR code has become a familiar feature of the counter. In many shops, it is accompanied by a small audio device that announces when a payment has been received.
For Kashmir’s shoppers, the change has been gradual but profound.
A decade ago, everyday shopping largely depended on cash. If a customer did not have enough money, there was always the locality’s shopkeeper’s notebook — a handwritten record of what had been bought on credit and what was still owed.
Today, a mobile phone can do what a wallet once did.
The transformation is closely linked to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which completes 10 years on August 25.
Launched in 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India, UPI has grown from a new payment system into a central part of everyday commerce.
According to the Press Information Bureau, annual UPI transaction volumes have risen nearly 13,000-fold, from 1.78 crore transactions in its first year to more than 24,162 crore transactions in 2025-26.
But in Kashmir’s markets, the impact of UPI is perhaps better understood through aRs 20 purchase than through billions of transactions.
At a Kashmir Kandur shop in Srinagar, shopkeeper Muhammad Shafi said the change in payment habits has been particularly noticeable among younger customers.
“Earlier, almost everyone paid in cash. If someone did not have the exact amount, we had to arrange change or sometimes write the amount in the notebook. Now many customers simply scan the QR code and the payment is done,” he said.
Shafi said digital payments have become part of the routine of running the shop.
“Even for a small purchase, people are comfortable paying through their phones. They don’t think of it as something special anymore,” he said.
The shift is equally visible at grocery stores.
Farooq Ahmad, who runs a grocery shop in Buchpora, said the QR code has become as important to his business as the cash drawer.
“Earlier, cash was everything. People would come with notes and coins, and if they were short of money, they would ask us to put it on credit. Now many customers don’t carry cash at all,” he said.
Ahmad said digital payments have also reduced the problem of small change.
“Sometimes a customer buys something for Rs 47 or Rs 83. Earlier we had to look for change. Now they pay the exact amount,” he said.
At a mutton shop in Srinagar, the weighing scale and butcher’s knife share counter space with another increasingly familiar object — a QR code.
Customer Aijaz Ahmad said he now uses digital payments for purchases that he once would have paid for exclusively in cash.
“Earlier, I would make sure I had cash before going to the market. Now I just carry my phone. Whether I am buying groceries or mutton, I can pay directly,” he said.
The same pattern has emerged at chicken shops.
Bilal Ahmad, a poultry shop owner in Anantnag, said digital payments have become part of the daily routine.
“Customers ask for the QR code almost automatically. They scan it, show the payment confirmation and leave. For us also, it is easier because there is a record of the transaction,” he said.
For shopkeepers, however, one of the most noticeable developments has been the arrival of audio payment devices.
The small speakers, placed near cash counters, announce incoming payments, allowing merchants to confirm transactions without constantly checking their phones.
“When the shop is crowded, I cannot look at the phone after every payment. The audio device tells me immediately that the money has come,” said a shopkeeper in Srinagar.
For consumers, the change is even simpler: carrying less cash.
