Now, bank rolls out 'Aadi' offer for defaulters

Madurai: In line with the textile and jewellery shops, a public sector bank in Sivagiri in Tirunelveli district has come out with an 'Aadi' offer for its defaulters to repay their loan amount.
Central Bank of India's offer has come as a surprise to many at a time when banks are accused of being harsh towards customers while collecting the outstanding loan amount.In order to reach out to customers, the bank has pasted posters in all the villages that come under the Sivagiri panchayat.
The growing non-performing assets (NPAs) at the branch prompted the bank to come up with an attractive 'Aadi' offer. Most of the customers of the bank are farmers.
Branch managar of the bank Senthil Kumaran told TOI: "There is a large quantity of NPAs in banking sector and our bank is not an exception to this. Our first aim is to create awareness to the people about the loan repayment. While many banks have started taking different measures, we have planned this campaign."
However, he did not explain in detail about the offer, hinting that they will determine the offer to a customer as per his outstanding loan amount and interest in consultation with higher authorities.
Sources from the banking sector say that there is pressure from top management urging the branch level officers to reduce the NPAs, which is becoming a big burden.
Often banks are in the news for wrong reasons for their crude ways of recollecting the loans. They are now forced to use different tactics with the sole aim of reducing the NPA.
Recently, United Bank of India, Trichy branch, planned to stage a peaceful protest in front of a college for a loan taken by its owners and has defaulted in repaying the loan. However, the protest was withdrawn at the last moment fearing it may send a wrong signal to its other valuable customers.