Pigmy collection in Assam

Pigmy collection began in Udupi in 1928 and is usually described as a coastal Karnataka idea that spread into Maharashtra. In Guwahati the word is in use unchanged: Nagarik Samabay Bank publishes a Pigmy Deposit scheme with doorstep collection by its agent. That profile carries the bank's own facts, each with its source and the date it was read. This page is about what is specific to Assam: the law a co-operative society there is registered under, and what it allows.

The law that governs co-operative societies here

Co-operative societies in Assam are registered under the Assam Co-operative Societies Act, 2007. The Act defines the Registrar as "the officer appointed by the State Government under section 3 to perform the duties of Registrar of Cooperative Societies under this Act". That office is the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam.

A co-operative bank is registered as a society too, but it also holds a banking licence and answers to the Reserve Bank. A credit society answers to the Registrar alone. Our guide to co-operative banks and credit societies sets out how to tell them apart, which decides almost everything below.

What the Act says about deposits

Section 70 lets a registered society "receive deposits and may borrow from its members and from persons who are not members". It may do so only to the extent, and on the conditions, that the Act and the society's bye-laws provide.

The same section sets a ceiling. No society may, by accepting deposits or loans or in any other way, incur liabilities above 25 times the sum of its paid-up share capital and accumulated reserve fund in a financial year. Accumulated losses are deducted from that sum first.

Two things follow for someone saving daily with a society in Assam:

• Being a non-member does not, by itself, make the deposit unlawful here. That differs from Telangana, whose co-operative laws confine deposits to members (and, under one Act, associate members).
• The ceiling limits how much a society may owe. It is not a promise of repayment. If a society cannot repay, there is no deposit insurance to fall back on. DICGC insures deposits at banks, and states that primary co-operative societies are not insured. What cover means at a bank is in is my deposit protected.

Where to take a problem

At a co-operative bank, the route runs through the bank and then the Reserve Bank's complaint system. At a credit society, the Registrar is the authority. Both routes are in where to complain.

What we could not establish

• How many Assam institutions run daily collection. We found one by direct search; nobody keeps a register of the practice.
• Whether the Rules under the 2007 Act add conditions on deposits from non-members. We read the Act, not the Rules or any society's bye-laws.
• Whether the text on India Code includes every later amendment to the 2007 Act.
• Whether Assam has any rule on agent commission, like Maharashtra's.