Demand for recovery agents soars as banks face rising unsecured loan stress: Report
As stress rises in banks' retail lending business, particularly in unsecured loans, there is growing demand for collection and recovery agents. Additionally, banks are increasingly deploying sales staff for recovery efforts. These activities are largely outsourced by commercial banks.
According to data from TeamLease Services, as cited by Business Standard, the total number of outsourced staff in the BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance) sector, as of July 2024, was 77,000, with 6,000 serving as recovery agents. By December 2024, the number of recovery agents had increased by nearly 50 percent, with the total outsourced staff rising to 82,000, of which 8,800 were recovery agents.
Krishnendu Chatterjee, vice-president and business head, TeamLease Services, highlighted that unsecured loans have gone up, and the resultant delinquency rates have also increased, due to which demand for collection profiles in the retail lending space, specifically unsecured loans like credit cards and personal loans, has increased in the past six months. “Some of our clients, who have been asking us for sales-related roles, are now showing interest in collection roles,” he was quoted as saying by the news outlet.
In its annual report, Trends and Progress of Banking in India 2023-24, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expressed concerns over the rise in delinquency and leverage in unsecured loans, urging greater vigilance. The share of unsecured loans in the total credit given by scheduled commercial banks had steadily increased since March 2015, reaching 25.5 percent by March 2023, before slightly easing to 25.3 percent a year later.
An official from a private sector bank told Business Standard that there has been a significant rise in demand for collection (recovery) agents over the past six months, as the credit environment has become more challenging for unsecured segments such as consumer durables, personal loans, and credit cards. The demand for these agents is high in urban areas.
Karthik Srinivasan, senior vice-president and group head, Financial Sector Ratings at ICRA noted that retail lending by banks and NBFCs has slowed due to an increase in delinquencies. He highlighted that the focus has shifted to collections, with many banks and NBFCs either strengthening their collection teams or leveraging technology to target specific delinquent borrowers.
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ICAR ex-chief, Padma Shri awardee Subbanna Ayyappan found dead in Cauvery river
Mysuru, May 11 (PTI): Former Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Padma Shri awardee, Subbanna Ayyappan, has been found dead in the Cauvery river near Srirangapatna, Police said. People found his body floating in the river on Saturday and it was retrieved, they added.
Ayyappan (70) was an agriculture and fisheries (aquaculture) scientist, and was the first non-crop scientist to head the ICAR.
According to police, his two-wheeler was found on the river bank and it is suspected that he might have jumped into the river.
However, only investigation can determine the cause of his death, police said.
Ayyappan was a resident of Vishweshwara Nagar Industrial Area of Mysuru, and his family filed a complaint with the Vidyaranyapuram Police Station in Mysuru, stating that he had gone missing on May 7.
He used to do meditation often at the Saibaba ashram located on the banks of the Cauvery River in Srirangapatna, police said.
Ayyappan, who is credited for playing a role in India's 'Blue Revolution', is survived by his wife and two daughters.
