UPSC Articles
Angadias
Part of: Prelims and GS-I Society and GS-III Economy
Context: An FIR has been registered against three Mumbai Police officials for allegedly threatening Angadias.
What is Angadia system?
- The Angadia system is a century-old parallel banking system in the country where traders send cash generally from one state to another through a person called Angadia that stands for courier.
- It is by and large used in the jewellery business with Mumbai – Surat being the most popular route as they are two ends of the diamond trade.
- The cash involved is huge and it is the responsibility of the Angadia to transfer cash from one state to another for which they charge a nominal fee.
- Generally, it is the Gujarati, Marwari and Malbari community that are involved in the business.
- The Angadia system works completely on trust.
Is the system legal?
- While the Angadia system per se is legal, there hangs a cloud over the activity as it is suspected that a lot of times it is used to transfer unaccounted money.
- There have been suspicions that it is also used for transfer of black money like the hawala transaction which is generally used across countries.
News Source: IE
