The words used at a girvi counter, in the state Acts and in the registers — defined in plain language by people who use them daily. Handy for new staff, and for anyone reading a pledge document for the first time.
The transaction
- Pledge / girvi — handing gold to a lender as security for a loan; ownership stays with the borrower.
- Pawner — the customer who pledges the gold. Pawnee / pawnbroker — the licensed lender who holds it.
- Principal — the cash amount lent, before any interest.
- Pledge receipt / pawn ticket — the document the pawner receives: loan number, date, amount, rate, ornaments and weights.
- Redemption / release — repaying the dues and taking the identical ornaments back, against signature.
- Top-up — an additional advance against the same pledge when its value supports it.
- Renewal — closing a long-running loan and reopening it for principal plus unpaid interest; how registers compound yearly.
Valuing the gold
- Karat (K) — purity out of 24. 22K ornament gold is ~91.6% pure; 24K is fine gold.
- Hallmark / BIS mark — the certification stamp of purity on an ornament.
- Gross weight — ornament weight as-is; net weight — after deducting stones, wax and attachments. Loans are computed on net gold content.
- LTV (loan-to-value) — the loan as a percentage of the gold's market value; the margin below 100% is the lender's safety.
- Market rate — the prevailing price per gram (typically quoted for 22K ornament gold locally) used to value a pledge on a given day.
Interest and accounts
- Rate per ₹100 — the counter convention for interest: ₹1.50 per hundred per month = 1.5% monthly = 18% yearly.
- Part-month rounding — the register rule that any part of a month counts as a full month of interest.
- Simple interest — principal × rate × months, nothing compounding while the loan runs.
- Compounding / anniversary rule — adding unpaid interest to principal each year, usually via renewal.
- Outstanding — what is currently owed: principal plus accrued unpaid interest and charges.
Compliance and recovery
- Licence — the district-issued permission to lend / take pledges under the state Acts; renewed yearly.
- Gold loan ledger / pledge register / delivery register — the statutory books recording loans, pledges in serial order, and releases with signatures.
- Final notice — the registered-post demand giving an overdue pawner a deadline to redeem.
- Auction notice — the follow-up notice stating the pledge will be sold by public auction after a date.
- Surplus — auction proceeds beyond the dues; belongs to the pawner and must be refunded.
- KYC — identity and address proof collected from the pawner.