Economy, Trade & Statecraft
Hundi credit instruments
medieval onwardIndian merchant communitiesHundi billsPan-Indian / unspecified
1200
Bills of exchange used for remittance and credit across long distances.
- Dated
- 1200–1757
- As scholars put it
- medieval onward
- Originator
- Indian merchant communities
- Source text
- Hundi bills
- Region
- Pan-Indian / unspecified
- Discipline
- Economy, Trade & Statecraft
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- High
- Verification
- Reference-cited
Meanwhile in the West
Comparable to European bills of exchange.
Fair to say
Similar instruments existed in the Islamic world.
Path to modern innovation
Informal hundi networks still exist.
Builds on
321 BCEReferences
- 1Economic histories of India
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-332 on GitHub.