Digital recovery of retail loans set to surge, reduce cost of field agents

The threat of real or make-believe police complaints and legal notices against borrowers has been used for recovery

Anshuman Panwar, co-founder of Creditas Solutions, claims his firm “has been able to help over half a million retail customers settle Rs 9,329 crore in dues to banks and other lenders.” The firm works in the emerging digital collections space that cuts out field recovery agents and offers its services to ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Citibank.

Digital collections help cut the huge costs lenders have to incur when they send recovery agents to check out on borrowers. A single field visit to a customer costs Rs 250-500, and there’s no surety that this will lead to a