Banks and other lending institutions cannot publish photographs of defaulting borrowers in newspapers unless the borrower in question has been declared a wilful defaulter based on the process outlined by the Reserve Bank of India, the Reserve Bank of India said in a notification on Thursday.
If the defaulting party has been declared a wilful defaulter, the lender can consider publishing photographs of proprietors, partners, directors, or the guarantors of the borrowing firm, the RBI said.
In the notification, the central bank has also directed lenders to formulate a policy with approval from their respective boards of directors clearly outlining the criteria based on which the lender can decide whether or not to publish the photograph of a person. “Above will be taken by them so that the approach is neither discriminatory nor inconsistent,” it said.
According to RBI guidelines, a borrower is termed a wilful defaulter if he has defaulted in meeting repayment obligations to the lender even when it has the capacity to repay, or has not utilised the money from the lender for the specific purposes for which finance was availed of and has diverted the funds for other purposes.