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Abstract
Ancient India (especially during the Maurya and the Gupta empires) had an organized private credit dispensation system. Although there were no banks in the modern sense of the word, but the merchant guilds did have systematic procedure of evaluating, vetting and sanctioning of credit to its members. The system was not open to the general public but then, the membership of the guild could be acquired quite easily by anyone desirous and serious enough to do business in the specific area that a particular guild promoted. This system of credit dispensation remained in India till the advent of the British East India Company.