There are 12,727 registered industrial units in seven industrial areas of Indore, including agro-based, textiles, furniture, rubber, metal and snacks factories, which provide employment to about 100,000, according to a 2016-17 industrial profile of the district prepared by the central government, the latest data available.

Like Khajrana Square, there are 20 assembly points for informal labour around Indore, a city of 1.98 million. Each labour hub witnesses a gathering of up to 700 workers by 6 a.m. They are dressed in the same shabby clothes and carry packed lunches. There has been a “sharp rise” in the number of people turning up for work at these hubs, said Anand Lakhan, a social worker with Deen Bandhu Samaj Sahyog (Friends Of The Poor), a local worker advocacy. “Most of them have either lost their livelihoods in the recent past or have experienced sharp decline in income.”

Before demonetisation, Sisodia worked for almost 25 days every month. Now, if he is lucky, he finds work for 14. Of Sisodia’s family, his wife and son each earn around Rs 3,000 per month. Together, the entire family earns about Rs 12,000 every month, an amount Sisodia earned by himself before demonetisation.

Ramesh Kumar, 40, a big-built man in a soiled checked shirt and lungi, has a similar story.

He previously earned Rs 5,000 per month as a security guard, choosing to be a daily-wage labourer once his children started school so he could earn more money. In 2012, when he started looking for work at Khajrana Square, he earned Rs 7,000 the first month, going up to Rs 12,000 in other months.

“The problems began after notebandi (demonetisation),” said Kumar. Contractors in Indore said they were starved of cash and assured payment later. Now, they tell him the market is “poor” and there just isn’t work for labourers, he said.

Kumar has not had a regular job in a year and his monthly earnings vary between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000. For the last three months, he has been unable to pay his the school fees of his children, who study in grades IV and VI.

Up The Economic Ladder, The Same Story

Arun Ingale, 43, a labour contractor in the construction industry, said his business collapsed after notebandi, an assessment confirmed by other contractors.

Ingale, who now pays labourers Rs 200 per day, compared to Rs 350-Rs 400 earlier, said builders are willing to pay only half the actual wage, which makes it harder to find workers.

“Half my clients have stopped their projects,” said Ingale, a tall, lean man dressed like a local politician in a short white kurta and pants, an unhappy expression on his face. “Labourers call me seeking jobs, but I do not have answers for them. The market is so competitive that if I refuse to work at a cheap price, builders hire other contractors who can provide cheap labour.”

In addition, labourers ask for wages in cash. ATMs in this part of the country are often out of cash.

Some contractors now visit nearby villages, many struck by India’s farm crisis, in search of low-wage labour, hoping they will find workers desperate enough to work for less.

The effects of demonetisation and the GST--criticised for its hasty, often chaotic implementation--are cited by factory owners as reasons why they pay lower wages and have fewer jobs.

Small-scale industries are the worst affected, said Kothari, the president of the Pithampur industries association quoted earlier.