AD201010708279906AR
AD201010708279906AR

Strength in numbers: how chit funds help the impoverished



When C.Devaraj was approached by the family of a potential suitor for his 18-year-old daughter, he was deliriously happy. And then reality sank in. In order to pay for the wedding, the tailor from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu would have to raise Rs60,000 (Dh4,724) in cash in less than three months, which was close to impossible on his monthly salary of Rs8,000. He application for a bank loan was rejected.

When he announced the news of his daughter's engagement to the relatives, and shared his financial anxieties, his elder sister, V. Adilakshmi, offered him a solution."Join my chit," she said, referring to a chit fund she was about to manage. Chit funds are the Indian equivalent of the Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCA), which are popular in many countries such as Cambodia, Korea and Indonesia. Chits are an important financial tool, providing access to finance for both small and medium enterprises and individuals with pressing cash requirements.

Smaller chit schemes, such as the one managed by Mrs Adilakshmi, operate on an informal level without regulation. Instead, they are governed strictly by trust and intense screening of the participants. A chit scheme typically has a predetermined value and duration. Each scheme is open to a fixed number of members, which is equal to the duration of the scheme in months. For example, 12 members would take part in a 12-month chit fund.

The members contribute the predetermined amount of money each month to the scheme, which is then auctioned out. Every month, members will assemble at the chit manager's house to make bids. The highest bidder, who calls out what is called the "discount", wins all of the contributions made that month, or the "prize money", which is equal to the chit value minus the "discount". After deducting the manager's commission, usually around 5 per cent, the "discount" money is then distributed among the other participants in the scheme equally as a "dividend".

Once a member has won the "prize money", he or she must continue making payments each month, but is no longer entitled to bid at auction throughout the duration of the scheme. In the following month, the contribution for all members is subtracted by the "dividend" each member received. To provide an example, Mr Devaraj agreed to participate in his sister's chit scheme. With 20 members in total, each person agreed to contribute Rs5,000 over the course of 20 months. Therefore, the total value of the chit up for auction each month was Rs100,000.

When it came time to bid, the minumum "discount" was set at Rs10,000, which meant that in any given month, the maximum amount a member could collect would be Rs90,000 (Rs100,000 prize money minus the minimum bid of Rs10,000). As is often the custom, the first month's chit is automatically allotted to the manager of the scheme - in this case, Mrs Adilakshmi - as they tend to bear an enormous risk should any of the other members default on payments. She bids Rs10,000, the minimum amount, and collects Rs90,000 for herself.

In the second month's chit, Mr Devaraj bids Rs30,000. Luckily for him, the other members' bids were lower than his. Consequently, he succeeded in securing around Rs70,000 after investing only Rs5,000 the first month and Rs4,474 in the second month. His payment was less in the second time around because it's always subtracted by the dividend each member receives in the previous month (which in this case was Rs526, or Rs10,000 divided between the remaining 19 members).

With the cash in hand, he celebrated his daughter's wedding and continued to contribute every month to his sister's chit scheme. Overall, it served as a timely lump of cash without having to apply for a loan and take on the burdens of interest and debt. He will also benefit from dividends throughout the life of the chit. "The history of chit funds can be traced back to more than 2,000 years ago," says R. Kannan, a senior director at Shriram Chits, one of India's largest chit fund entities, with an annual auction turnover of about US$715 million (Dh2.6 billion).

In ancient times, it was the village chieftain's responsibility to collect grain from the villagers and store it for contingencies. The excess grain would be redistributed among the households on an annual or biannual basis. Should a family require financing for other expenses, he would release the grain depending on the capacity and capability of the borrower to repay the grain. In modern times, this system was altered and extended to money and brought under regulation by the Tamil Nadu Chit Fund Act (1962) followed by a central government Chit Fund Act (1982).

"India in the 1970s and 1980s was a different place. Banks had restrictions on lending to the middle class and the government's programmes were primarily addressing the poor and industries. The middle class needed money and chit funds emerged as an instrument that encouraged saving but also allowed borrowing, without interest," Mr Kannan says. A large chit operator such as Shriram Chits, for example, has a community of 2,200,000 subscribers, who participate in various chit schemes operating in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

Although the company does not screen members, newer participants are not allowed to participate in the auction for the first few months of the scheme and may only contribute to the "prize money" during that period. Company-run chit schemes may also demand collateral from members prior to their participation in the auction. Home-run and unregistered operators such as Mrs Adilakshmi's, however, subject their schemes' participants to intense scrutiny and background checks.

"My criteria is very simple," she says holding out three fingers. "Participants must live in their own homes. If they're renting they could run away and I would never know where to look for them. They must not have any debts. They must have a regular monthly income." @Email:pf@thenational.ae

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

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Director: John Madden 

 

Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton

 

Rating: 4/5

 
PREMIER LEAGUE STATS

Romelu Lukaku's goalscoring statistics in the Premier League 
Season/club/appearances (substitute)/goals

2011/12 Chelsea: 8(7) - 0
2012/13 West Brom (loan): 35(15) - 17
2013/14 Chelsea: 2(2) - 0
2013/14 Everton (loan): 31(2) - 15
2014/15 Everton: 36(4) - 10
2015/16 Everton: 37(1) - 18
2016/17 Everton: 37(1) - 25  

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Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope 
Defenders: John Stones, Harry Maguire, Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Ashley Young, Danny Rose, Trent Alexander-Arnold 
Midfielders: Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph 
Forwards: Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

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The Specs

Engine 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 582bhp (542bhp in GTS model)

Torque: 730Nm

Price: Dh649,000 (Dh549,000 for GTS) 

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

Company Profile

Company name: Yeepeey

Started: Soft launch in November, 2020

Founders: Sagar Chandiramani, Jatin Sharma and Monish Chandiramani

Based: Dubai

Industry: E-grocery

Initial investment: $150,000

Future plan: Raise $1.5m and enter Saudi Arabia next year

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Temple numbers

Expected completion: 2022

Height: 24 meters

Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people

Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people

First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time

First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres  

Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres

Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor 

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Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

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● No of employees: Nine

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Name: Almnssa
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Brief scores

Toss India, chose to bat

India 281-7 in 50 ov (Pandya 83, Dhoni 79; Coulter-Nile 3-44)

Australia 137-9 in 21 ov (Maxwell 39, Warner 25; Chahal 3-30)

India won by 26 runs on Duckworth-Lewis Method

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
  • Riders must be 14-years-old or over
  • Wear a protective helmet
  • Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
  • Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
  • Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
  • Do not drive outside designated lanes
Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions

There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.

1 Going Dark

A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.

2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers

A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.

3. Fake Destinations

Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.

4. Rebranded Barrels

Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.

* Bloomberg

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RESULTS
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The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

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SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now

The specs

  Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now

Results

6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m. Winner: Rio Angie, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer).

7.05pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 1,600m. Winner: Trenchard, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.

7.40pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m. Winner: Mulfit, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.

8.15pm: Handicap Dh210,000 (D) 1,200m. Winner: Waady, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson.

8.50pm: Handicap Dh210,000 (D) 2,000m. Winner: Tried And True, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.

9.25pm:Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m. Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.

The five pillars of Islam

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff
By Sean Penn
Simon & Schuster

The biog

From: Upper Egypt

Age: 78

Family: a daughter in Egypt; a son in Dubai and his wife, Nabila

Favourite Abu Dhabi activity: walking near to Emirates Palace

Favourite building in Abu Dhabi: Emirates Palace

if you go

The flights

Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes. 

The car

Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals (more at www.hertz.com/etihad). A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.

The hotels

Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes. 

More info

To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com

 

The specs: 2018 Ford F-150

Price, base / as tested: Dh173,250 / Dh178,500

Engine: 5.0-litre V8

Power: 395hp @ 5,000rpm

Torque: 555Nm @ 2,750rpm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Fuel consumption, combined: 12.4L / 100km

Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENamara%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohammed%20Alnamara%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMicrofinance%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E16%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFamily%20offices%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO

England 2
Cahill (3'), Kane (39')

Nigeria 1
Iwobi (47')

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

What is blockchain?

Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.

The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.

Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.

However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.

Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.

Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder

Started: October 2021

Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Industry: technology, logistics

Investors: A15 and self-funded 

ANATOMY%20OF%20A%20FALL
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJustine%20Triet%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESandra%20Huller%2C%20Swann%20Arlaud%2C%20Milo%20Machado-Graner%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%205%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

Various Artists 
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
​​​​​​​


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