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What is the News?
An FIR has been registered against three Mumbai Police officials for allegedly threatening Angadias and extorting money from them in south Mumbai.
Who are Angadias?
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 Angadia to transfer cash from one state to another for which they charge a nominal fee.
This system works largely on trust as huge sums are involved.Usually, traders have the same Angadias for decades together.
Is the system legal?
The Angadia system per se is legal.But since the business deals in cash and there is no account maintained for the same, there have been suspicions that it is used for transfer of black money like the hawala transaction which is generally used across countries.
Source: This post is based on the article “Explained: Who are Angadias?” published in Indian Express on 23rd February 2022.
