From the Rothschild’s to the Medici’s, bankers have long been accused of spilling blood for profit. Now it’s ICICI Bank ’s turn to explain how a client named Yadaiah died due to harassment from its recovery agents.

Yadaiah’s family says he had taken a personal unsecured loan of Rs 15,000 from ICICI Bank and had been unable to repay or service it for the past six months. So, a Hyderabad-based collection firm named Elite Financial Services began to pester Yadaiah for the money and soon got rough with him, they say.

What exactly happened next is murky, but Yadaiah died of a heart attack on Elite’s premises. His passing, caused directly or indirectly by a measly dispute, seems like a terrible waste. But it could save thousands of other debtors from being harassed and even meeting the same end if it succeeds in jolting the government and banking industry into reforming the retail loan industry.

It’s an ill-kept secret in banking that retail customers are wooed by banks to take loans and buy goodies they cannot afford but cannot resist either. Sooner or later, the consumer defaults on the loan and the bank’s goons come visiting.
Why, then, do the banks do it?

With the market for retail loans opening up and banks flush with liquidity, every banker wants to roll his money out of the door and acquire the largest possible market share in the loan business.