You can make a career out of debt recovery

Dhiraj Kelkar, 26, believed that his streak of unemployment would probably continue for some time since he has not gone beyond the higher secondary level. That was until he stumbled upon a recruitment advertisement for a debt recovery agent on a local train last month.
He applied promptly. He was called for an interview which saw many other youngsters of his age group, or some even younger, fancying their chances. He was picked immediately and asked to go through a training module before being handed that appointment letter.
The crux of the matter is today, anyone can aspire to become a recovery agent and pursue it as a serious career. You need not have a strong physique or a history of winning fights to lay claim to this status. All you should have is a higher secondary school certificate. "Early 2008, there were a lot of complaints about brutal recovery agents, following which the RBI had put in a regulation that all recovery agents must be certified," a senior official with the Indian Banks Association said.
The Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF) has been training new and old recovery agents over the last three years on how deal with a defaulting customer. Launched in the mid 2008, the course is of 100-hour duration and imparts lessons on a host of topics ranging from the legal and regulatory framework of being a recovery agent to the functionality aspect and most importantly, the soft skills involved.
The training programme and examination is conducted for fee of Rs 1,200 per attempt. "We have noticed a lull in the number of applicants this year. It is because banks themselves are moving away from retail businesses," said R Bhaskaran, CEO, IIBF. The debt recovery agencies are rotating the existing lot of agents to meet banking requirements and thus complicating the picture.
Bankers look at a number of factors before employing a recovery agent, beginning from size, efficiency and the quality of workers they possess. "We see the track record of the recovery agents before employing… There we require persuasion skills," said Giridhara Kini, deputy general manager, State Bank of India.
Some lenders say they are focussed on making recovery an in-house process. "We cannot just depend on tele-callers for our recovery. We takes care of all legal recovery methods without going to an outside agency," said Paul Abraham, COO, IndusInd Bank.
Banks prefer to keep their association with these external agencies brief. "Our relationship with a recovery agency is based on an agreement," an official with a leading private sector bank said.
Bhaskaran thinks that if banks were to recognise recovery as a profession and treat agents as their employees, the sector may attract more youngsters looking at it as a career option.