Best tatctic to recover money!

Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank and Indian Overseas bank are really taking loan recovery very seriously. And rightly so! The three banks, as the fiscal draws closer to a close, are actually marching to the doorstep of the defaulters, be it office or home and demanding the money back. Andhra Bank employees had set themselves a target of recovering one lakh accounts and they have very efficiently completed recovery from 85,000 accounts. It has now coordinated with SBI and hopes to recover the balance with help from this bigger bank.

So what does the bank do? It is not threatening and hiring goons to beat-up like a private sector bank did a few years ago; it has adopted the tactic of shaming. The bank employees go to the doorstep of the borrower and stand there silently with a placard which announces their default. This was the tatctic used to get back the money from GTL Infra, Chennai based Empee group and Jeypore Sugars. Bank unions are also helping. They are visiting villages, beating drums and announcing the names of th defaulters all around the village through loud speakers. This is what Indian Overseas Bank is also doing – it has hired a jeep with a loud speaker and the employees and going all over the village, announcing and shaming the names of defaulters.

In the end, be it a villager or a big industrialist, it is only public shaming which can prompt one to act and repay. Maybe the banks should have adopted such tactics to get the money back from Vijay Mallya. But then he is too thick skinned to probably feel any shame….