What is Angadia?
Angadia is a word from Hindi language which means Courier in Hindi. Angadia is a Hindi word that is also used for those designates, who act as Hawaladars, in India.
Angadias are the people who act as a parallel banking system, in this country. This parallel banking system is exclusively created and functions for rendering money transfer service to business men, in India. They are expert in transferring money from one city to another city within the country. They charge a commission for their courier service. The commission may range anywhere, from 0.2% to 0.5% for every transaction made by them. This commission is charged for every transfer of money, from one city to another city.
How Do The Angadias Work in India?
They work simply on the basis of mutual trust. Angadias are unofficial banking service, who are arranging for transfer of money for business people, from one city in India to another city in the same country.
These people are conduit to the transfer of huge sum of money, at a time. This amount being transferred may be in Crores of Rupees. This money belongs to the traders and ultra rich people.
Usually they render their transfer of money service, mainly between two places. It is from the state of Gujarat to the city of Mumbai, and also the other way around. Angadias are found operating between these two places for most of the time.
These people transfer these extremely valuable items, just for a very nominal fee. They take about 24 hours at the maximum, to materialise any transfer of money or transfer of other valuables. Any transfer of money or other valuables, worth Rupee One Lakh, costs just Rs 100/-as transfer fee, when transfer is made by the Angadias.
Angadias work and survive on the basis of the trust that they earn from their clients. They maintain a very high level of trust factor and are prepared to go to any extent to protect their clients. They also can go to any length to hide the contents of their courier service.
Angadias run their courier business from different areas in the city of Mumbai. These areas are Bhuleshwar, Opera House or the Zaveri Bazar locality in southern part of Mumbai. They also have their base in northern Mumbai. They operate from places such as, Malad, Borivili and Ghatkopar in northern Mumbai.
These people provide this courier service for transfer of money and of other valuables, destination Gujarat, by using ferry service up to Mumbai Central railway station. The Angadias use vehicles for this part of their travel and these vehicles have escorts. These escorts are generally security personnel, who are privately hired by the Angadias.
They deliver cash and other valuables on a daily basis and prefer travelling to Gujarat by Gujarat Mail train. They return to Mumbai by the same train next day. The departure of Gujarat Mail is at 10 PM from Mumbai Central railway station. It reaches Ahmedabad at 6.25 AM, in the next morning. While returning to Mumbai, the train leaves Ahmedabad railway station at 10, PM in the night and reaches Mumbai Central at 6.45 AM the following morning.
The Angadias reserve about 30% to 50% seats in the railway coach and they are travelling in groups for the reason of security. These guys prefer sitting awake all night or they sleep by turn.
History of Angadias
This Angadia clan originated from a particular place in Gujarat. This place is known as Kathiawad region, in the state of Gujarat. These people are in the trade of money transfer from the days before Indian independence from the British Regime. They had been in the business of transferring money since then.
Angadias are the mainstay of unofficial courier and banking service. They serve business men and traders mostly based either in the city of Mumbai or in the state of Gujarat.
There are about 200 Angadias in the city of Mumbai. There are about equal number of Angadias, who are based in different cities in the state of Gujarat. These cities are Ahmedabad, Surat and Baroda.
Coding System Used By Angadias
These poeple have a particular code system. They use this code system at the time of doing their business. The code system consists of peculiar words, such as “Jokhim” and “Zhewar”. These codes are used to describe the nature of contents, those are inside the parcels.
They use coded words for transfer of cash money. They simply convey the word and the cash money are transferred from the city of Mumbai to the destination in the state of Gujarat. But for other valuables, such as diamonds and jewellery, and carry them physically.
Angadias are couriers who operate on the basis of code words those are decided by the sender and the recipient of money and other valuables. The sender takes a code from the recipient. This code is generally a Ten Rupee Note or a Hundred Rupee Note, bearing a specific currency number.
These people always work in team. Once the code is decided, the sender calls a person and the other Angadia is informed about the transfer and the code and the Angadia informs the same to his counterpart at the recipient’s end. Ultimately the money is delivered and the code, a Ten Rupee Note, bearing the special currency number is taken from the recipient, as the proof of delivery.
Sometimes the sender and the recipient use telephone numbers, as codes, in place of Currency numbers of Currency Notes. In this case, the recipient gives a missed call to the courier’s cell phone to check the number.
Also Read: Hallmarking Registration
Conclusion
The traders and rich business persons, who are based in Mumbai or in the state of Gujarat, rely and trust these Angadias, beyond any doubt. They use Angadias for transferring their money. These rich traders and business personnel also avail the services of Angadias for transferring expensive items, such as, jewellery and Diamonds. The state of Gujarat, especially the city of Surat is the main market for diamonds; those are transferred regularly from that city to Mumbai through the Angadias, for further business transactions.
Also Read: GST Rate & HSN Code for Precious Stones
