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Burgeoning cases of non-performing assets (NPAs) and piling loan frauds have led banks to private detectives for conducting 'undercover' operations to unearth hidden data against defaulters who have cheated them of crores of rupees before vanishing into thin air.
With these cases having gained prominence recently in the wake of some huge defaults like those by Kingfisher Airlines and its owner Vijay Mallya, banks have brought out advertisements and approached private detective agencies to mine information against fraudsters.
As per official records, a number of banks have sought empanelment of detective agencies with their assets recovery divisions to not only "locate the missing/absconding NPA defaulter" but also to "ascertain their present occupation, income streams among others".
A large public sector bank recently sought help to tackle the NPA menace and wants private sleuths to "unearth uncharged properties of the defaulter for recovery action with the help of documentary evidences".
"We have been helping the banks on these issues for quite a few years now but this time there is pressure on them to catch not only the small but also the big fish. Private detective agencies are working on thousands of such case across the country.
"In order to ensure that the banks get vital information on defaulters and absconders, our agents are conducting undercover operations as we cannot go and just knock on the doors to obtain such information in these cases," Chairman of the Association of Private Detectives of India (APDI) Kunwar Vikram Singh told PTI.
He said despite the job requiring special skills to conduct covert operations, the APDI's collective success rate in tracing bank defaulters has been as much as 90. He said absconders and fraudsters many a time exist "right under the nose" but under a changed identity.
Singh said his detective firm Lancers Private Limited is at present working with banks like SBI, Bank of India and Bank of Patiala on such cases many of which have come to it in the recent past.
A banker at a leading lending institution said a number of banks have sought help of the APDI in this regard in the recent past.
"The banks are up against some of the smartest brains when it comes to non-payment of loans and huge defaults. There is not much staff with any of us to physically get information against such entities and hence private detectives hold the key to this problem.
"It is ensured that when we bring on board a detective agency we enter into a confidentiality agreement with them called the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) which mandates that such snoop information about the defaulter will be protected from any public disclosure," he said.
