Mizoram’s pua chawh: the village loan system that never needed a bank

The pua chawh — a rotating savings circle in which members contribute monthly and take turns drawing the pot — has funded Mizo life for generations: weddings, houses, funerals.

Now it is funding startups. A survey of Aizawl’s new businesses found a third had been seeded by pua chawh pots rather than banks.

The circles run on trust and community, and their interest rate is measured in obligation.