Chit Fund

A Chit fund is a kind of savings scheme practiced in India. A chit fund company is a company that manages, conducts, or supervises such a chit fund, as defined in Section of the Chit Funds Act, 1982. According to Section 2(b) of the chit Fund Act, 1982:

Such chit fund schemes may be conducted by organised financial institutions, or may be unorganised schemes conducted between friends or relatives. In some variations of chit funds, the savings are for a specific purpose. Chit funds also played an important role in the financial development of people of south Indian state of Kerala, by providing easier access to credit. In Kerala, chitty (chit fund) is a common phenomenon practiced by all sections of the society. A company named Kerala State Financial Enterprise exists under the Kerala State Government, whose main business activity is the chitty.Chit fund concept came into the eyes of people in 1800's when Raja Rama Varma, ruler of erstwhile Cochin state gave a loan to a Syrian Christian trader, by keeping a certain portion of it to himself for other expenses and later he drew that money for the principle of equity.

Chit funds operate in different ways, and this may lead to many fraudulent tactics practised by private firms. The basic necessity of conducting a 'chitty' is a group of needy people called subscribers. The foreman — the company or person conducting the chitty — brings these people together and conducts the chitty. The foreman is also responsible for collecting the money from subscribers, presiding over the auctions, and keeping subscriber records. He is compensated by a fixed amount (generally 5% of the gross chitty amount) monthly for his efforts. Other than that, the foreman has no specific privileges, he is just a chitty subscriber. A simple formula depicts the pattern of the chitty:

Monthly premium and times; duration in months = gross amount

E.g., 1000 * 50 = 50,000/- Where 1000 is the maximum monthly contribution needed from a subscriber, 50 is the duration of the chitty in months and 50,000 is the maximum sum assured. The duration also equals the number of subscribers, as there must be (not more or less) one subscriber to receive the prize money every month.

The chitty starts on an announced date, and every subscriber comes together for the auction/lot. As per the Kerala chit act, the minimum prize money of an auction is limited to 70% of the gross sum assured; that is 35,000 in the above example. When more than one person are willing to take this minimum sum, lots are conducted and the 'lucky subscriber' gets the prize money for the month. If there is no person willing to take the minimum sum, then a reverse auction is conducted where subscribers open-bid for lower amounts; that is from 50,000 >> 49,000 >> 48,000, and so on. The person bidding the lowest sum will get the bid amount.

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