The Indian Hundi

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Hundis refer to financial instruments which evolved on the Indian sub-continent and appear to have been in use there from at least the sixteenth century. They were used in trade and credit transactions and, as such, were used as remittance instruments for the purpose of transfer of funds from one place to another. In the days of the Princely States and the British Raj these hundis served as Travellers Cheques. What makes hundis so interesting is the sheer variety of them and the uses to which they were put. As a safety precaution, moreover, they were usually written in an elaborate script which only bankers knew how to read and write. They are still used in India today, even though the resources of modern banking are available for most commercial transactions.