Banks' hiring of recovery agents under fire in TN after farmer's death

The practice of commercial banks sending recovery agents to take possession of hypothecated property has come under fire in Tamil Nadu following the death of a farmer on Saturday.

Gnanasekaran, 55, a farmer in Tiruvannamalai district, around 195 km from here, died after loan recovery agents of State Bank of India (SBI) in the district went to his house to take possession of the tractor he had bought with a loan.

While the farmer's relatives allege the recovery agents had assaulted him, bank officials said he was not present but it was only his son who had an argument with the loan recovery agents.

"It has become a habit for bankers to send goons to threaten borrowers of education and tractor loans. RBI has clearly said banks should adopt legal means to recover outstanding loans," said PMK leader and former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss.

Ramadoss said banks threaten and assault poor farmers for non-payment of dues, adding that the banks, unable to recover thousands of crore of rupees lent to industrialists like Vijay Mallya and big companies, are levying new charges on their ordinary customers.

All India State Bank Officers Federation President D. Thomas Franco Rajendra Dev told IANS that they were "against hiring of recovery agencies for individual loans".

"Though banks were nationalised years back for social benefit, over a period of time the loan procedures and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines have been tuned in favour of corporates," said Dev, who is also the General Secretary of the All India Bank Officers Confederation.

On this case, Dev said the total dues of Gnanasekaran to SBI was over Rs 5.2 lakh.

"During the first week of October 2017, a woman official of the SBI branch had visited Gnanasekaran and urged him to go for one time settlement scheme offered by the bank. But he did not agree," he said.

According to him, under the one time settlement, a borrower has to pay 50 per cent of the dues and get the loan account closed.

Dev said Gnanasekaran had taken the loan to buy a tractor several years back and in 2011, the vehicle was taken possession by the bank but given back on payment of Rs 100,000.

--IANS

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