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Hundi/hawala: the problem of definition
01 Jul 2009-Research Papers in Economics (London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library)-
TL;DR: In this article, a discussion explores the idea that hundi is more accurately described as an indigenous banking system endowed with a complex range of functions, but whose central purpose is trade.
Abstract: In contemporary times, hundi has collected countless labels; the international press has spurned innumerable villainous descriptions, the bulk of which have helped to perpetuate a dense fog of notoriety. The critical problem lies in definition. As there is an incomplete understanding of hundi's form and remit, there is also a rather limited understanding of why the system persists, set against the backdrop of modern banking. In many ways the problem of definition presented legal and financial authorities of the early and late twentieth century with core issues which remain unresolved and problematic for authorities in the twenty-first century. By drawing on archival and other historical material pertaining to the system's usage amongst Indian merchants, this paper attempts to tackle much of the confusion and many misconceptions surrounding hundi. The discussion explores the idea that hundi is more accurately described as an indigenous banking system endowed with a complex range of functions, but whose central purpose is trade.
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23 Mar 2017TL;DR: In this paper, Bishara examines the transformations of Islamic law and Islamicate commercial practices during the emergence of modern capitalism in the Western Indian Ocean and examines the Indian Ocean from Oman to India and East Africa over an extended period of time.
Abstract: In this innovative legal history of economic life in the Western Indian Ocean, Bishara examines the transformations of Islamic law and Islamicate commercial practices during the emergence of modern capitalism in the region. In this time of expanding commercial activity, a melange of Arab, Indian, Swahili and Baloch merchants, planters, jurists, judges, soldiers and seamen forged the frontiers of a shared world. The interlinked worlds of trade and politics that these actors created, the shared commercial grammars and institutions that they developed and the spatial and socio-economic mobilities they engaged in endured until at least the middle of the twentieth century. This major study examines the Indian Ocean from Oman to India and East Africa over an extended period of time, drawing together the histories of commerce, law and empire in a sophisticated, original and richly textured history of capitalism in the Islamic world.
72 citations
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on a relatively brief period during which managerial control over the human and natural resources of the pearling industry transferred from Dutch to British powers, and explore the interstices between success and failure and track such developments through the evolving contexts of colonialism and imperialism in India and Sri Lanka.
Abstract: The Gulf of Mannar—the shallow body of water between present-day India and Sri Lanka—was one of the largest sources of natural pearls in the world for at least two millennia. This dissertation focuses on a relatively brief period during which managerial control over the human and natural resources of the pearling industry transferred from Dutch to British powers. The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries also witnessed a shift in political economic thought, as classical liberalism dislodged mercantilism as the prevailing framework for interpreting the relationship between the state and economy. The Company and Crown governments brought an assemblage of ideas to bear on the management and governance of people and oysters that sought to not only increase productivity but also fundamentally reshape the social, economic, and political foundations of the pearling industry. However, the attempt by British officials to extricate local networks and institutions from pearling operations was fraught with contradictions and seldom delivered on the promise of reform. Through an examination of key targets of government intervention—labor, markets, merchants, sovereignty, and corruption—this dissertation explores the interstices between success and failure and tracks such developments through the evolving contexts of colonialism and imperialism in India and Sri Lanka. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group South Asia Regional Studies First Advisor Daud Ali
64 citations
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29 Mar 2016TL;DR: Gagan D. Sood as mentioned in this paper focuses on ordinary people - traders, pilgrims, bankers, clerics, brokers, and scribes, among others - who were engaged in activities marked by large distances and long silences.
Abstract: Based on the chance survival of a remarkable cache of documents, India and the Islamic Heartlands recaptures a vanished and forgotten world from the eighteenth century spanning much of today's Middle East and South Asia. Gagan D. S. Sood focuses on ordinary people - traders, pilgrims, bankers, clerics, brokers, and scribes, among others - who were engaged in activities marked by large distances and long silences. By elucidating their everyday lives in a range of settings, from the family household to the polity at large, Sood pieces together the connective tissue of a world that lay beyond the sovereign purview. Recapturing this obscured and neglected world helps us better understand the region during a pivotal moment in its history, and offers new answers to old questions concerning early modern Eurasia and its transition to colonialism.
46 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the complexity of the market as vertical hierarchies of dealers negotiate and expand the multiple spaces between legal and illegal commodity flows, and formal and informal economies, to build successful businesses.
42 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present four conditions that influence the complexity of money laundering: diverse types of crime and forms in which proceeds are generated, including the type of payment, the visibility of crimes to victims or authorities, and the lapse before financial investigation occurs (if it does).
Abstract: Four conditions influence the complexity of organized crime money laundering. First are diverse types of crime and forms in which proceeds are generated, including the type of payment, the visibility of crimes to victims or authorities, and the lapse before financial investigation occurs (if it does). Second, the amount of individual net profits causes differences between criminals who have no use for laundering, who self-launder, and who need assistance from third parties. Third are the offender’s goals and preferences in spending and investing crime proceeds. Investments are often close to home or country; some opt to wield power, but much is freely spent on a hedonistic lifestyle. Fourth, expected and actual levels of scrutiny and intervention of the anti–money laundering regime influence saving and reinvestment decisions and some arrests and confiscations, but there is no clear cause-and-effect relationship. The four conditions can intertwine in numerous ways. When conditions necessitate or stimulate more complex laundering schemes, this is reflected not only in techniques but also in social networks that emerge or are preconditions. Complex cases often depend on the assistance of professionals, outsiders to the criminal’s usual circle, who are hired to solve particular financial and jurisdictional bottlenecks.
36 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the economic institution utilized during the eleventh century to facilitate complex trade characterized by asymmetric information and limited legal contract enforceability, and employed the geniza documents to present the "coalition," an economic institution based upon a reputation mechanism utilized by Mediterranean traders to confront the organizational problem associated with the exchange relations between merchants and their overseas agents.
Abstract: This article examines the economic institution utilized during the eleventh century to facilitate complex trade characterized by asymmetric information and limited legal contract enforceability. The geniza documents are employed to present the "coalition," an economic institution based upon a reputation mechanism utilized by Mediterranean traders to confront the organizational problem associated with the exchange relations between merchants and their overseas agents. The theoretical framework explains many trade-related phenomena, especially why traders utilized specific forms of business association, and indicates the interrelations between social and economic institutions. M editerranean trade contributed much to the economic growth of southern Europe during the Middle Ages.' The spread of this trade depended, to a large extent, upon traders' ability to employ overseas agents or to let business associates function as overseas agents. The employment of overseas agents was vital during the Middle Ages, since goods were sold abroad only after being shipped to their destination.2 Since, absent contractual problems, a merchant can decrease cost by sending goods to an overseas agent rather than traveling with his goods, a large efficiency gain could potentially be achieved by employing overseas agents.3
1,176 citations
278 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a list of map-based notations on the use of INDIAN WORDS and on gEOGRAPHY in the 8th-century India.
Abstract: LIST OF MAPS PREFACE ABBREVIATIONS NOTES ON THE USE OF INDIAN WORDS AND ON GEOGRAPHY INTRODUCTION 1. PROLOGUE: WAR AND SOCIETY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY INDIA 2. AGRICULTURE, ECOLOGY, AND POLITICS 3. STABILITY AND CHANGE IN THE CITIES, 1780-1810 4. THE RISE OF THE CORPORATIONS 5. THE GROWTH OF POLITICAL STABILITY IN INDIA, 1780-1830 6. THE INDIGENOUS ORIGINS OF THE 'COLONIAL ECONOMY' 7. THE CRISIS OF THE NORTH INDIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY, 1825-45 8. CONFLICT AND CHANGE IN THE CITIES, 1800-57 9. SMALL TOWNS IN THE POLITICAL ECONOMY: THE QASBAH UNDER PRESSURE 10. THE MERCHANT FAMILY 11. THE MERCHANT FAMILY AS A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE 12. TOWNS, TRADE, AND SOCIETY AFTER THE GREAT REBELLION CONCLUSIONS EPILOGUE TO THE INDIAN EDITION BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE GLOSSARY INDEX
251 citations
18 Aug 2003
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the historical and socioeconomic context within which the hawala has evolved, the operational features that make it susceptible to potential financial abuse, the fiscal and monetary implications for hawala-remitting and hawala recipient countries, and current regulatory and supervisory responses.
Abstract: Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there has been increased public interest in informal funds transfer (IFT) systems. This paper examines the informal hawala system, an IFT system found predominantly in the Middle East and South Asia. The paper examines the historical and socioeconomic context within which the hawala has evolved, the operational features that make it susceptible to potential financial abuse, the fiscal and monetary implications for hawala-remitting and hawala-recipient countries, and current regulatory and supervisory responses.
212 citations