Adherence to the Regulations by Lenders – Enforcement is needed

The pandemic is still raging and many entrepreneurs are living under the shadow of uncertainty with regard to restructuring.

We have been assisting the couple to deal with financial distress emanated from COVID 19 pandemic and consequent lockdown in the early last year. The flourishing restaurant business nosedived to a complete standstill. Thanks to their spirited reworking of the strategy and increasing online orders, the business remains afloat. Though the profitability is still a far cry, there is a glimmer of hope and optimism that the days ahead will be better.  They have few loans from NBFCs and banks as well. We all know that when the going is good, the enterprises tend to borrow a business loan that comes without any collateral security and it is quick in delivery of the loans. Unfortunately, the Covid 19 made things go very bad. NBFC which had been recovering the regular instalments till the pandemic did not show any remorse at the situation rather insisted on payment though there is not enough cash flow. The borrower made repeated requests for restructuring the loan and a softer repayment schedule for the balance outstanding which they ignore.

What is astonishing is- the approach of the NBFC to ignore RBI’s guidelines on One Time Restructuring (OTR). The subject party is eligible to seek OTR as per RBI norms. Despite repeated requests to consider under the RBI Scheme of OTR, they ignored the request.

The question is- what is the sanctity of the regulations which is not adhered to by the NBFC

In the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic and post lockdown, the Reserve Bank of India came out with series of regulatory guidelines to banks and Non-Banking Finance Companies(NBFCs) to extend relief to customers to overcome the financial distress and smoothen the process of recovery of loans in an orderly fashion. Also, Govt of India came out with many guidelines to help the  MSMEs to overcome the stress.

RBI issued two comprehensive guidelines on August 6 2020. They are: Resolution Framework for COVID-19-related Stress  (for personal loans and corporate exposures) and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector – Restructuring of Advances.

The circulars were very clear and unambiguous in their intent. It has given enough flexibility to enable banks and NBFCs to restructure loans with liberal terms and addressed the key concern by waiving the condition to downgrade the loan to non-performing status.

In the first reading, it sounded as if it is a panacea for avoiding conflicts between banks and borrowers. There was a great sigh of relief among MSMEs that there will not any harassment for recovery rather the process to recover from the COVID 10 pandemic will be smoothened.

Many  MSMEs have given a request for restructuring in view of the delay in the onset of business recovery.

This particular couple also made a request way back in September 2020 to restructure the loan to NBFC. However, it was very agonizing to see that the lender neither took serious note of the request nor shown any inclination to implement RBI guidelines. They were absolutely cold to the proposal. In fact, there was no one to discuss the proposal.

It is not an isolated case rather than a system-wide practice. Despite the standard conditions set by RBI for identifying the eligible entities to undertake a restructuring, the banks and NBFCs are not enthusiastically taking up and do not see any obligation to act under the regulations. Their action is very patchy.

The obvious question is- what is the sanctity of the regulations issued by the RBI.  Who will have to oversee the implementation?

The regulations are announced as a response to demand from industry bodies and citizens. If it is ignored by the lenders and if they focus on recovery, it will not serve any purpose.

Bank/NBFC is a party for the transaction. It is prudent to leave it to their wisdom to decide on the restructuring proposal? Is there any department or a statutory body which is having the supervisory responsibility to enforce the regulation promulgated by RBI? Indeed it is needed.

Regulations and policies are meant to remove personal prejudices, individual discretions and notably, it will facilitate the contract between two parties conflict-free. Having regulations on OTR  is indeed positive for the MSMEs to overcome the covid induced stress. However, its significance is lost when there is no appetite among the lenders to implement.

An agency from Govt/Regulators will have to look at the efficacy of implementation of schemes. This is needed to eliminate the uncertainty and enable effective implementation. It requires setting up a mechanism to help the borrowers to notify their desire to seek restructuring in an independent platform and such request should be referred to Bank /NBFC headquarters for further action.

Setting up such a mechanism with the online channel is quite easy and requires minimal investment. The benefit will be multifold. Having provided the platform, the process will become more transparent and the banks & NBFCs will be compelled to take an objective view of the proposal. It will take away the uncertainty. Brining more stressed business assets into productive use will result in a more economic capacity to grow.

Restructuring is beneficial to all the stakeholders:

Restructuring of loan is one important step in the broader agenda of the revival of stressed business. Unfortunately, there is an element of restlessness among the bankers and NBFCs to undertake this. Rather many are willing to call the customers for One time Settlement of the loan; a sort of inducement. It is not correct. A business of an individual member of the society constitutes an economic asset of the whole country.

Secondly, it is in the interest of banks and NBFCs to hold a dialogue with stressed customers and create a viable path for turnaround. After all pestering, the borrower in the hour of the crisis engulfing the whole society will only lead to self-inflicted injury to these institutions than bringing meaningful recovery.

The fact is in the long run the restructuring is indeed beneficial to the banks and NBFCs though they have to endure short term mismatches in the asset-liability management.

Conclusion:

COVID19 Pandemic is causing havoc in the economy. Small business owners are bearing with brunt. The OTR scheme is very much important for stabilising their business and finance. RBI and Govt should make its implementation very effective and facilitate fixing the stressed relationship with lenders so that they will move to revive their business. That will facilitate faster economic recovery.