Rajya Sabha passes Chit Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The Rajya Sabha passed the Chit Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on Thursday.

The bill was sent to the Rajya Sabha after the Lok Sabha passed it on November 20.

The bill seeks to reduce the compliance burden of the registered chit funds and inserts 'fraternity fund' and 'rotating savings and credit institution' among the names, which may be used to refer to chit fund.

The Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed by a voice vote in the Lok Sabha on November 20 after a reply by Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur, who said that the Bill was also aimed at protecting the interest of the poor.

The amendments moved by the opposition were negated. The Bill seeks to amend the Chit Funds Act, 1982 and was introduced in the last session of Parliament.

Thakur said that chit fund was not a deposit-making scheme but a subscription-based scheme and was legal unlike the unregulated schemes or Ponzi schemes.

He said that regulated funds were those that were in the purview of nine registered institutions."The chit fund is legal. It is registered and then floated," the minister added.