Digital payments push Kashmir’s elderly street vendors to the sidelines

Follow us on

In the bustling lanes of Srinagar’s Dalgate, the smell of sizzling kebabs still draws crowds, but something else has changed. The hands that grill the meat are the same, yet the hands taking payments are not. Across Kashmir, a quiet generational shift is underway, one driven not by taste, but by technology.

At his small yet iconic barbecue stall in Srinagar’s Dalgate, 67-year-old Mohammad Abbas no longer handles the money. For 45 years, he perfected the art of grilling seekh kebabs and tujji, but a small black-and-white QR code has changed everything.

His son, Tariq, 28, now manages all the transactions. Abbas, who has spent most of his life dealing in cash, says the new world of digital payments feels alien.

“I don’t understand these payments,” he admits. “Customers show