The Angadia System:
An FIR has been registered against three Mumbai Police officials for allegedly threatening Angadias and extorting money from them in south Mumbai. Earlier this month, an Angadias shop in Mulund was looted by a gang of robbers.
- 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 as large sums, at times in crores, are involved.
- 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.
