KOCHI: Bankers in Kerala are trying out-of-the-box ideas to recover impending dues from loan defaulters. The employees Thrissur-based Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) is the latest to join the bandwagon of bankers adopting the 'name and shame' strategy to recover the money considered as good as lost.
As per the plan, the CSB employees have decided to land up at the residences of “willful defaulters” on Thursday with banners and placards. The defaulters on Rs 50 lakh and above in six locations i.e. Edapally, Angamaly, South Vazhakulam, Muvattupuzha, Thodupuzha and Chenganoor will 'face the music', said an employee of CSB.
“This is completely an employee-driven movement. The management has no role. There are people who have deliberately defaulted on the loans. They are having an extravagant life at the expense of the bank. Because of the bad debts,
the bank's profits are hit, our employee benefits are affected,” said Anitha P Emmanual, assistant general manager, CSB.
'Repay your loan, live up to your reputation', 'Business is built on trust, beware your customers are watching you', 'Bank money is public money, not repaying is a crime to the public', are some of slogans coined by the bank staff for their out-of-the-box debt recovering strategy.
Last September, Punjab National Bank (PNB) resorted to similar 'Gandhigiri' approach to recover money from the defaulters. The PSU bank staff gave a rose flower to the 'willful defaulters' to shame them into repaying the borrowed money. “I can say that our strategy succeeded to a certain extent. We recovered Rs 60 crore of NPA (non performing assets) in Kerala, last quarter,” said Susy George, circle head, PNB.
Jacob Davis Thottan, chief manager of CSB, said the bank would repeat the strategy of shaming the defaulters at other locations too in coming weeks. “This is just the first leg of the plan,” he said. Right from peon to the deputy general manager would be among the 20-odd staff that would arrive at the doorsteps of defaulters on Thursday, said Thottan.
“The peaceful demonstration, from 9.30 AM to 10.30 AM on Thursday, is being done in such a manner that it would not affect the normal functioning of the bank,” added Anitha, an employee at CSB.