Hinduism - What Is A Hundi In The Hindu Banking System? How Is The Term Used In Modern Times?


In earlier times, the name for a letter of credit issued from a mercantile house.

By the early 1800s, these letters functioned as a virtual currency, since in some cases they would pass through twenty or thirty transactions before being returned for payment.

Hundis are significant because they allowed families to transact business over large areas without having to actually carry large sums of money with them and thus helped to foster long distance trade.

In modern times, this is also the most common term for a temple collection box, where visitors deposit their offerings. 


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