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Several media reports say that Madhapar village in Gujarat holds the title of the ‘Richest Village in Asia’.
Interestingly, the residents of this small village have bank FDs of Rs.7000 crore spread across 17 banks. Majority of residents are from Patel community, with many of them being NRIs.
Kutch MFD, Chetan Nandwani, President SKIFAA said that Madhapar is adjacent to Bhuj city and majority of wealth has come from NRIs. However, the locals have also accumulated wealth from business and agricultural activities. “Many individuals opened bank accounts before going overseas. Hence, FD became the preferred choice for many.”
Madhapar MFD, Ashish Madhaparia of Madhaparia Private Limited said that many villagers have started investing in mutual funds. “Of late, many people from the Patel community have started investing in mutual funds. However, they are testing the waters by investing a small portion of their investible corpus in mutual funds.”
Ashish believes that the majority of money is still in banks for remittance purposes. He said that many families from Patel community are planning to settle abroad with their children and grandchildren.
MFD Harji Bhai Madhaparia said that each family in Madhapar has at least one NRI member. However, the majority of them have a conservative mindset when it comes to investments.
Harji also feels that the demand for mutual funds has been increasing in the village and this is evident from the sharp rise in the number of individual distributors.
He said that he has brought many FD investors to the mutual fund fold by educating them about the benefits of mutual funds over traditional investments and encouraging them to start with small amounts. Another important factor that helped him convert them into MF clients is having an office. “Many villagers are not comfortable with online transactions. They want to associate with a person who is accessible to them,” he added.
