Reputation Archives - understand-culture

The Guarantor

Section 126 of the Indian Contract Act of 1872 defines a contract of guarantee: “a contract to perform the promise, or discharge the liability, of a third person in case of his default.” Section 128 adds: “The liability of the surety is co-extensive with that of the principal debtor, unless it is otherwise provided by the contract.”

Banks “have the right to recover the default amount from borrower and/or the guarantor,” Business Standard explained to its readers. “Being a guarantor is as good as taking a loan yourself, in terms of credit exposure.”

No Business Without a Reference

In July 2015 weavers in Surat’s Sachin industrial area decided “not to do business with merchants who do not provide valid references.” A committee of the Sachin Weavers’ Welfare Association was to cross-verify the merchants’ details.

The same market also shares warnings. In January 2026 the Federation of Surat Trade and Textile Associations announced plans to “publicly name textile distributors defaulting on payments beyond the 180-day credit period,” on a mobile app.

Known to Me for Three Years

Many Indian colleges and universities ask new students for a character certificate. In 2021 Mahatma Gandhi Central University asked for “A Character certificate from the Head of the Institution last attended.”

For private candidates, a Delhi college gives a specimen to be signed by a gazetted officer: “Certified that Mr. / Miss … is known to me for the last three years. He / She bears a good moral character.”

Credit and Good Name

Saakh. In the Rekhta dictionary: reputation, repute, goodwill, credit.

Izzat. Honor, respect, esteem, dignity, reputation, good name.

Naam paida karna. To create a name. In the dictionary’s Hindi definition, to gain renown and become famous.

The Hundi

“The most important class of credit Instruments that evolved in India were termed Hundis,” the Reserve Bank of India writes in its history of payment systems. One kind, the sah-jog hundi, was “payable only to a Sah or to his order.”

The RBI explains who that was. “A Sah was a respectable and responsible person, a man of worth and substance who was known in the market.”

Social Boycott

In April 2016 the Maharashtra Assembly passed a bill against social boycott. The law, enacted in 2017, is “An Act to provide for the prohibition of social boycott of a person or group of persons including their family members.” Scroll reported that Maharashtra was “set to become the first state in the country to criminalise social boycott.”

Caste councils impose such boycotts. In Rajasthan, the practice is “commonly referred to in local parlance as hukka-pani band or haath band,” the end of sharing a hookah and water.

The Tata Assurance

In 2001 Tata Finance, a company of the Tata group, was caught in a financial controversy. The financial journalist Sucheta Dalal reported that “the Tatas would meet all of TFL’s financial obligations to its lenders and depositors.”

She added: “Given the Tata’s blue-chip reputation, the assurance has helped avoid a run on the company.”

The Name Is the Collateral

The Palanpuri Jains, a historic business community, are prominent in the diamond trade of Antwerp, with networks reaching Mumbai and Surat. Their trade, an article in The Conversation explains, “operates on credit, relies on trust.” It adds: “The diamond industry cannot enforce written contracts.”

The community’s own social controls do that work instead. “In the diamond trade, your name has traditionally been your collateral,” one Indian essay notes.

Sifarish

Sifarish means a recommendation. A person with sifarish has someone who has spoken for them. The Rekhta dictionary gives recommendation and intercession as its first meanings. It notes that the word can also mean “undue favour or influence.”

The Introducer

Indian banks used to ask anyone opening an account for an introduction from an existing customer of the bank. Someone the bank already knew had to vouch for the newcomer.

In December 2012 the Reserve Bank of India told banks to stop insisting on it. The requirement, it said, was not mandatory under any of its rules.