A look into the dark pages of usury by ravenous loan sharks in India - a review on media reports

Usury is a plague which haunts most of the underdeveloped sections of the society. Here a complete picture of the moneylenders, who they are, their history, why people go for moneylenders and not formal financial institutions, surety asked for loans by them, various consequences of default of payment by borrowers, notorious instances, laws to protect the affected in the form of acts and probable solutions for this issue are discussed. Media is continuously reporting the evils of usury which clearly reveals the evil grip usury has on the society. Nobody, the rich or the poor is spared. To support this study, a review was done on the media reporting on usury. The paper is a review of the “money lenders” in India. This study is done as a precursor for the ICSSR-IMPRESS sponsored project under the title “A strategic model creation for sustainable financial inclusion through influencers for under-privileged sections of the society”.