{"id":126,"date":"2016-06-22T16:44:15","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T16:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=126"},"modified":"2016-06-22T16:44:15","modified_gmt":"2016-06-22T16:44:15","slug":"life-after-debt-collectors-rbi-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=126","title":{"rendered":"Life After Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

O<\/span>n a door in a nondescript building in Mumbai\u2019s Wadala east, the number 102 stands out in crimson. There\u2019s little indication that a couple of lakhs of hard cash, jewellery, and valuables are stored on the other side of this door. There are no images of gods plastered on it, no swastikas, or Oms in red paint guarding it. The money needs no protection. The people from whom it is taken just might.\n\nIn the confines of this 600-square-foot room, Nadeem bhai runs a collection agency. He makes a living from the debt dodgers of a greedy city. I knock on the door and a few seconds later, a dark, puny man opens it and asks, \u201c<\/p>Kya kaam hai<\/em>?\u201d His breath is reeking of paan. The sour smell hits me even though I\u2019m a good two feet away and about a foot taller. I tell him I\u2019m here to see Nadeem; he nods and beckons me.\n\nThe door slams shut. The living room resembles the set of Satya<\/em>. Four men play carrom in one corner, while an intense game of rummy plays out in another with three men staring intently at their cards. The latest Bollywood brain-melter is belted out of a cheap pair of speakers hooked up to a cellphone.\n\nAll seven begin sizing me up instantly, their gaze decidedly stone-cold. I can handle myself in a fight, but frankly, I wouldn\u2019t want to throw down with any of these behemoths. Not wanting to seem like a wuss, I engage in a stare-down with one of them. They are all built like gorillas, each of their fingers stubby and thick. They fit the description of henchmen, hired muscle waiting to take on a far superior mind but a weaker body. The short man returns, the stare-down ends, and he tells me Nadeem will see me in the other room.\n\nAs I linger outside, a voice from inside screams, \u201cAa na bhai, tak tak mat kar<\/em>.\u201d I open the door. Now I\u2019ve walked into the set of Shaan<\/em><\/a>. An air-conditioner, a plasma TV, a mini fridge and swank leather sofas surround a bald Nadeem, who sits on a swivel chair behind a wooden desk. I half-expect to see hungry sharks swimming behind him, but Nadeem has toned down the villainy. He was the stuff of legend when we were kids. His nephew was a friend and he would have us hooked with tall tales of how Nadeem was involved in several fights during the Bombay riots, and how cops were scared of him. No wonder then that Nadeem chose to start his own collection agency.\n\nHe offers me a Coke and asks for a cup of chai as I sit in front of him. He asks why I\u2019m growing my beard, \u201cApne jaat ka ban ne ka hai kya<\/em>?\u201d He immediately fishes out a folding knife from a drawer and says he can circumcise me right now, knowing that he probably can if he wants to; I laugh it off. Wasting no time, I ask if I can go along on a collection run. \u201cJust for the kicks,\u201d I say.\n\nHe laughs and says, \u201cYou most definitely cannot.\u201d It can get pretty hairy and Nadeem doesn\u2019t want to risk me getting hurt.\n\n\u201cI can handle myself,\u201d I add, as I try to put on my tough face. He takes another look at me and figures out that I\u2019m no longer the kid who played with his nephew. He agrees and calls Shorty back in. He instructs him to tell the men outside that I will be heading out this afternoon with one of them. They all agree. I\u2019m all geared up for my virgin run.\n\nStatistics about debt collection in Mumbai, let alone India, are sketchy at best. Ask Nadeem, and he pegs this unorganised sector as generating revenues of \u20b910 crore per year. The industry has taken a hit post 2008 after the Reserve Bank of India issued guidelines dictating methods to be used for debt collection. Since most financial organisations have tightened lending regulations, employed high-tech skip-tracing methods, and trained their in-house debt collection teams, people like Nadeem are pushed to the sidelines.\n\nHowever, banks sometimes turn to Nadeem when the shit hits the fan and a debt is just too big to be written off. How big is too big? Nadeem tells me the largest take on record was in excess of \u20b95 crore, which he recovered from an affluent businessman. Nadeem personally \u201cnegotiated\u201d this deal, which involved recovering a Rolls-Royce as collateral. He walked away with a neat dus takka (10%).\n\nI head out with Jamal and Yadav, the two who were earlier lost in the rummy game. Jamal is five-foot-something and appears unruly. He moonlights as a bouncer and hangs out with a local MNS corporator during downtime. He has a wife and a kid and these jobs are the only means to make a living, he tells me.\n\nYadav, is a former BSF hawaldar, who now works with Nadeem. We\u2019re headed to nearby Sion to recover a debt owed to a government-approved (private) moneylender. The debtor owes \u20b96 lakh, and Jamal and Yadav have received instructions to collect the money or any collateral they can. The man we\u2019re visiting has repeatedly dodged other recovery agents and has turned down polite requests to pay up.\n\nJamal and Yadav tell me to be prepared for the worst. On\u00a0Yadav’s second collection run, the debtor pulled a kitchen knife. When he saw Yadav unruffled, the\u00a0debtor threatened to slit his wrists.\u00a0I\u00a0fully expect Yadav to be an accessory to the suicide, but it turns out that he\u00a0disarmed the man, and walked out with a laptop, mobile phone, and two gold rings. Jamal laughs and tells me, \u201cYadav has the habit of giving people \u2018churan.\u2019\u201d\n\nWe arrive at our destination, a colony of rundown chawls in Sion east. Wading through a sea of rubble, garbage, human and dog shit, we find the house we\u2019re looking for. Jamal and Yadav tell me to watch from a distance and keep an eye out for trouble. I don\u2019t quite understand, so Jamal explains that I should look out for a large group of people, which may gather outside the house, on the off chance that our quarry has the opportunity to call in reinforcements. I agree and hang back. It would\u2019ve been way cooler if we all had walkie-talkies to communicate, and a van with high-tech surveillance gear. All I am stuck with, is a stupid mobile phone.\n

Most financial organisations have tightened lending regulations, employed high-tech skip-tracing methods, and trained their in-house debt collection teams.\u00a0Recovery agents like Nadeem are pushed to the sidelines.<\/blockquote>\nJamal knocks on the door; actually it\u2019s more of a thump that leaves the door shaking. A woman answers, and Yadav shouts out the man\u2019s name. The debtor, Shekhar, is nowhere in sight and the woman at the door denies knowing him. Since it is a woman at the door, Jamal and Yadav step back. They\u2019d rather return empty-handed than be accused of molestation or attempted rape. But they also know that this is a common tactic to dodge debt collectors.\n\nWe decide to stakeout the house for a bit, just to see if Shekhar decides to make a run for it. And there, as if on clockwork, the door opens and a middle-aged man peeps out. Time for the kill. Jamal and Yadav rush toward the house. The woman appears at the door yet again, but this time, Yadav yells and asks Shekhar to step outside and not hide behind a woman. A seasoned debt dodger, Shekhar is immune to public embarrassment. The duo keeps at it, while a crowd gathers outside the house. Curious onlookers, neighbours, the vegetable vendor who stops his cart to take in the spectacle, and I. The door opens and Shekhar steps out \u2013 what happens next is unclear, as Yadav instructs the crowd to disperse. It helps that Yadav looks and dresses like a plainclothes cop.\n\nJamal and Shekhar go into the house. Yadav tells me to wait outside and follows. Twenty minutes later, both Jamal and Yadav step out, carrying a bundle wrapped in a cloth and a laptop. We head back; on the ride back Jamal tells me, the packet contains jewellery and watches. I ask if I can sneak a peek, but the men turn down the request.\n\nBack at the office, they settle down into a game of carrom. Shorty takes the laptop and jewellery to Nadeem. Jamal and Yadav ask me when I\u2019m ready to start work, I tell them I\u2019m good and head in to talk to the boss. I walk in just as Nadeem is unwrapping the bundle; he asks for a minute. I take a step back. When I enter the room, the bundle and the laptop are nowhere in sight. Nadeem tells me it\u2019s in his safe. The goods will be liquidated later and the money will be handed over to the client after deducting his fee. Just what is his fee? Sometimes it\u2019s a hefty percentage and sometimes he purchases the debt outright and then doubles up the effort on recovering it. I secretly shudder at the extent Nadeem will go to when his own money is on the line and beat a hasty retreat.\n\nWhen I get home, I set my watch and phone down, and immediately rifle through my drawers for my credit card bill. I find it dumped along with bills for Chinese food, cigarettes, and skins. I flush it out of the pile, log into my account, and pay it way before the due date. I can\u2019t have Jamal and Yadav knocking on my door. I don\u2019t even have a woman to hide behind.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If someone owes you a debt and they won’t make good, who you gonna call? The debt collectors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[171,172,19,80,173],"class_list":["post-126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-debt","tag-debt-collectors","tag-india","tag-mumbai","tag-reserve-bank-of-india"],"yoast_head":"\nLife After Debt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If someone owes you a debt and they won't make good, who you gonna call? 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