International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

E-ISSN: 2582-2160   •   Impact Factor: 9.24

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

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Volume 8 Issue 4
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From Hundi to UPI: The Cultural Continuity of Trust-Based Transaction Systems in India

Author(s) Dr. Viral Kiritbhai Chavda
Country India
Abstract The rapid adoption of India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is typically explained through technological innovation and state-led digital infrastructure. This paper advances a complementary thesis: UPI's success represents the contemporary technological expression of a much older, culturally embedded tradition of trust-based, formally documented financial transactions. Drawing on Kautilya's Arthashastra, the historical practices of Hundi (indigenous bills of exchange), Bahi Khata (traditional merchant ledgers), and the Marwari community's accounting traditions, this study traces a genealogical line from ancient transactional philosophies to modern Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). It further examines how British colonial rule systematically disrupted this indigenous financial knowledge system — an epistemic rupture that concealed the continuity this paper seeks to recover. The paper argues that India's digital finance revolution constitutes not a belated adoption of Western modernity but a technological resurfacing of deep-seated cultural norms around documented, accountable, and trust-centric exchange.
Keywords Indian Knowledge System; trust-based transaction systems; Bahi Khata; Hundi; Unified Payments Interface; financial cultural continuity; Arthashastra economics; epistemic rupture; Digital Public Infrastructure
Field Business Administration
Published In Volume 5, Issue 6, November-December 2023
Published On 2023-12-16
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E-ISSN 2582-2160
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CrossRef DOI prefix of IJFMR is 10.36948/ijfmr

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