What a committee is, and how the money moves

A committee — kameti, BC, or in the wider world a ROSCA — is one of the oldest ways people save together, and the arithmetic is simpler than it sounds.

Short answer. In a committee, a fixed group of people each pay the same amount every month into one pot. Each month, one member takes the whole pot. When everyone has had a turn, the committee ends and nobody is owed anything. It is a way of getting a lump sum without a loan.

A worked example

Ten friends, PKR 5,000 each, every month.

Each month the pot is 10 × 5,000 = PKR 50,000.
In month 1, one member takes the 50,000. In month 2, another does. And so on.
After ten months everyone has taken exactly once, and everyone has paid in exactly 10 × 5,000 = 50,000.

Nobody gains and nobody loses. What differs is timing: the member who takes in month 1 has effectively borrowed from the group at no cost, and the member who takes in month 10 has effectively saved.

How the turn is decided

Three ways, and it is worth agreeing which one before the first payment:

By draw. Names pulled at the start, the order fixed for the whole run.
By need. Whoever has a wedding, a fee, a repair — decided by the group as it goes.
By agreement. A list settled at the start, usually with the organiser last as a matter of trust.

Why people use them

A lump sum without interest and without a bank.
A saving habit that is hard to break, because other people are counting on it.
No paperwork, no credit check, no minimum balance.

The one real risk

A committee has no collateral. Its whole security is that the members know one another and expect to keep knowing one another. The failure mode is always the same: somebody takes the pot early and stops paying. Nothing removes that risk entirely, but two things reduce it — a turn order that puts the least-known members last, and a written record that everybody can see, so a missed month is visible in the same week rather than six months later.

The same thing, different names

Where	Called
Pakistan	Committee, kameti, BC
India	Chit fund, kitty
Bangladesh	Shomiti
West Africa	Susu, esusu, tontine
Caribbean	Partner, box hand
Academic term	ROSCA — rotating savings and credit association

Common questions

Does anyone make a profit from a committee?

No. Everybody puts in the same total and takes out the same total. What changes between members is only when they receive it — the first taker gets their money early, the last gets it at the end.

What is the difference between a committee and a chit fund?

A chit fund is usually a commercial arrangement run by a company, often with bidding and a fee. A committee is informal, between people who know one another, with no fee and no bidding.

How many people should be in a committee?

The count sets the length: ten members means ten months. Most run between six and twenty. Beyond that, the last taker waits a long time and the risk of somebody dropping out grows.

What happens if someone leaves halfway?

This is the real risk, and it is why committees run between people who trust one another. Somebody who has already taken the pot and then stops paying leaves the rest short — which is why a clear written record of who has taken and who has paid matters.

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