May 23 2017
In a crowded lane in Kalbadevi —one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Mumbai — a few rooms on the top floor of a nondescript building house Renukamata Credit Society. Few outside the soft underbelly of the city’s money market may have ever heard about it. Along the dark doorway and paan-stained walls, the broken stairs lead to a crammed, modest office where few young men while away time sipping tea. The small outfit accepts cash deposits — any amount — from whoever becomes a member, and transfers funds to anyone in any other city on the instruction of the depositor following a no-questions asked policy. No rules are broken, technically. It’s a world that lies beyond ‘DeMo’ and digital money.