With a population of around 32,000 who hold fixed deposits of over INR 7,000 crore, Gujarat's Madhapar village, on the outskirts of Bhuj, is deemed as "Asia's Richest Village". Madhapar, in the Kachchh (Kutch) district, is mostly inhabited by the Patel community, famous for their industrialist and entrepreneurial zeal. Despite the general picture of a village being one filled with muddy roads, little houses and a lack of urban facilities, this is not the case with Madhapar.
Gujarat, being India's top business destination with the presence of multiple Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and serviceable global ports like Kandla, attracts a lot of foreign investments and industrialisation opportunities. As such, economic prosperity has not remained restricted to Gujarat's cities alone, and Madhapur village is a quintessential example of the state's high economic development. Madhapar has 17 banks so far, including the major Indian private and public banks like State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Punjab National Bank, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) bank, Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) Bank, amongst others.
Other banks are also eager to open their branches in the village. A branch manager of a nationalised bank in Madhapar told : "The huge deposits have made it prosperous. It has all the basic facilities like water, sanitation, and roads.
There are bungalows, both public and private schools, lakes, and temples." The village's high economic status comes majorly from the contributions of the NRI families living and working as expatriates abroad in countries like the US, UK, Canada, Australia and other African countries. Out of the 20,000 houses in the village, around 1,200 families live abroad and they prefer to deposit their savings in the local banks and post offices of Madhapar.
This continuous flow of remittances received from the expatriates has made Madhapur prosperous, endowed with all the basic living facilities like water, sanitation, dams and roads, along with public and private schools, temples and lakes. The village also has a "Madhapar Village Association" chapter in London, with the intention to keep the NRIs connected and help contribute to the improvement of their village. Parulben Kara, former president of the District Panchayat, quoted to the , "Though many villagers live and work abroad, they remain attached to their village.
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