A woman receives a micro-loan during a meeting at Sadasivpet, India. (Photographer: Adeel Halim/Bloomberg)
Chit funds are among India’s oldest forms of banking. They offer a savings and borrowing mechanism to the many excluded from India’s formal financial system. Yet, they are often associated with scams ranging from the Saradha scam to the Rose Valley scam and many others.Recent legislative changes, together with a handful of technology-based chit funds, are now aiming to give this age-old form of finance a newer, cleaner look. They bel...