The Kochi-based Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry has constituted an action council, convened by Rajesh Nair, under the youth forum of the chamber to deal with ‘harassment’ by lending institutions.
President of the chamber Biju Ramesh said the institutions were not abiding by the moratorium on loan repayment granted to the borrowers in view of the COVID-19-induced lockdown.
He said the chamber had submitted a memorandum to the State government for a solution as many chamber members who had borrowed money were being pressured by the institutions to pay the dues.
NBFC denial
However, the director of a leading Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) based in Kerala denied the allegation and said that NBFCs were overseen by the Reserve Bank of India and their existence depended on following the RBI guidelines.
Mr. Rajesh Nair said that those who faced ‘harassment’ from the lending institutions were mostly small borrowers. Complaints had come in from most districts in the State, he said.
Collection agents
He alleged that collection agents were being used by some of the lenders. These agents had told the borrowers that the offer of moratorium on loan repayments was at the discretion of the lending institution. The chamber named two private lending institutions in its statement to the press.
The chamber leaders appealed to its members who had run into trouble with their lenders to contact the action council for advice and action.
