2019 – Posted in: Daily News

Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2019

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered: All about Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2019

News Flash

The Rajya Sabha discussed the Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2019 after it was passed by Lok Sabha.

The bill seeks to amend the Chit Funds Act, 1982 which regulates chit funds and prohibits a fund from being created without the prior sanction of a State Government.
The amendments have been made to facilitate the orderly growth of the chit fund sector to remove bottlenecks and enable greater financial access to people.

Highlights

As per the legislation, the prescribed ceiling of aggregate chit fund amount for individuals has been raised from one lakh rupees to three lakh rupees.
In the case of firms, the ceiling has been raised from six lakh to 18 lakh rupees.
Besides, words like chit amount, dividend and prize amount have been substituted with terms gross chit amount, the share of discount and net chit amount.

Chit Fund

Under a chit fund, people agree to pay a certain amount from time to time into a fund. Periodically, one of the subscribers is chosen by drawing a chit to receive the prize amount from the fund.

Named for a chit fund

The Act specifies various names which may be used to refer to a chit fund. These include chit, chit fund, and kuri. The Bill additionally inserts ‘fraternity fund’ and ‘rotating savings and credit institution’ to this list.

Substitution of terms

The Act defines certain terms in relation to chit funds. It defines:

(a) ‘chit amount’ as the sum of subscriptions payable by all the subscribers of a chit;

(b) ‘dividend’ as the share of the subscriber in the amount kept apart for running the chit;

The Bill changes the names of these terms to ‘gross chit amount’, ‘share of discount’ and ‘net chit amount’, respectively.

Presence of subscribers

The Act specifies that a chit will be drawn in the presence of at least two subscribers. The Bill seeks to allow these subscribers to join via video-conferencing.

Foreman’s commission

Under the Act, the ‘foreman’ is responsible for managing the chit fund. He is entitled to a maximum commission of 5% of the chit amount. The Bill seeks to increase the commission to 7%. Further, the Bill allows the foreman a right to lien against the credit balance from subscribers.

Aggregate amount of chits

Under the Act, chits may be conducted by firms, associations or individuals.

The Act specifies the maximum amount of chit funds which may be collected. These limits are:

(i) one lakh rupees for chits conducted by individuals, and for every individual in a firm or association with less than four partners

(ii) six lakh rupees for firms with four or more partners.

The Bill increases these limits to three lakh rupees and 18 lakh rupees, respectively.

Application of the Act

Currently, the Act does not apply to:

(i) any chit started before it was enacted

(ii) any chit (or multiple chits being managed by the same foreman) where the amount is less than Rs 100.

The Bill removes the limit of Rs 100, and allows the state governments to specify the base amount over which the provisions of the Act will apply.

Source: PRS India