Committee ka hisaab kaise rakhein? A simple record for your monthly committee

Short answer: write down five things for every committee you join: the organiser, the monthly amount, the number of members, your turn (which month you get the pot), and every payment you make with its date. Keep it in one place, not in WhatsApp chats. A clear record protects you if a payment is disputed, and shows you how much of your salary is locked in committees each month.

What a committee is

A committee (in research it is called a ROSCA, a rotating savings and credit association) is a group that pays the same amount every month into one pot. Each month, one member takes the whole pot, until everyone has had a turn. Nobody earns interest and nobody pays it: you simply get your own money back in one lump sum, earlier or later.

How a 10-member committee works: everyone pays Rs 10,000 a month into a Rs 100,000 pot, and one member takes the pot each month. In this example your turn is month 7.

It is popular for a reason. A 2019 Karandaaz study, cited in Business Recorder, found that about a third of Pakistanis save through committees, while only a small share save through a bank. People use the pot for big costs that a salary cannot cover in one month: a wedding, school admission, a motorcycle, or Eid shopping.

Why the record matters

Committees run on trust, and most of the time that trust holds. The problems start when memory and trust are all there is:

"Did you pay March?" Without a dated record, a missed or disputed payment becomes your word against the organiser's.
Your turn moves. If the order is not written down at the start, it can quietly change.
The organiser cannot pay. Business Recorder describes a case of one organiser who ran hundreds of committees and ended up owing members Rs 420 million. Large or many committees with one person in charge carry more risk.
Your salary feels smaller than it is. If Rs 10,000 a month goes to a committee, that money is saved, not spent, but if you do not note it, the month looks like it disappeared.

What to write down

What	Example	Why
Organiser	Saima baji	Who to ask, and who holds the money
Monthly amount	Rs 10,000	What leaves your salary every month
Members and months	10 members, 10 months	Total pot = Rs 100,000
Your turn	Month 7 (May)	When the lump sum comes back to you
Each payment	Rs 10,000 paid on 5 March, by JazzCash	Proof if anything is disputed
Pot received	Rs 100,000 received on 3 May	Closes your side of the committee

Writing each payment down in a notebook, with the date and amount, is the simplest proof if a payment is ever disputed. Photo: Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash

Keep a screenshot or transaction ID for every payment made by bank transfer or wallet. For cash payments, ask the organiser to confirm in a message on the same day.

Questions to ask before you join

Who is the organiser, and have they run a committee to the end before?
How many members, and do you know most of them?
Is the order of turns fixed and written down for everyone?
What happens if a member stops paying?
Is the pot paid out in cash or by transfer?

If the answers are vague, join a smaller committee, or one with people you know.

How it fits into your monthly money

Think of a committee payment as saving that is locked for a few months, not as spending. When you plan your month, take the committee amount out of your salary first, then plan the rest. When the pot comes back, decide what it is for before it arrives, or it tends to disappear into ordinary spending.

Z30 does not have a committee feature today. You can still write each payment as one line, for example committee 10000 JazzCash se di, so your month shows where the money went. The table above is the part that protects you, wherever you keep it.

FAQ

Is a committee halal?
That is a religious question, so ask a scholar you trust. What they will usually want to know: are all payments equal, and does anyone pay or receive anything extra, such as a fee or profit?

Is a committee better than a bank savings account?
They do different jobs. A committee forces you to save a fixed amount and gives you a lump sum, but earns nothing and depends on trust. A bank account is safer but easier to dip into.

What if the organiser stops paying?
Your written record (dates, amounts, transaction IDs, the agreed order) is your strongest evidence when you talk to the organiser or other members.

Sources

Committees: formal financial system may have ignored it, but that's not the way forward, Business Recorder (cites the 2019 Karandaaz study and the Rs 420 million case)
All you need to know about 'committees', Dawn, November 5, 2018 (how organisers protect against default; study of Lahore businesses)