Page 86 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

credit the current account of the dealership as direct payment to supplier
of farm equipment, mostly diesel pump sets for irrigation. It went all well
so far.

One day, one of my maternal cousins in the city invited us to a dinner.
While chatting, he mentioned that his brother in law was a Sarpanch
(village head) in the service area surrounding our branch. His brother in
law had told him that the above particular dealer informed him that they
had a "setting and understanding" (that meant a kind of "give and take"
arrangements), with the Bank Manager and the Loan Officer. The dealer
requested him to direct farm equipment borrowers from his village to
our bank for loan and buy equipment from that dealership and that they
would get loan in three days. My cousin told me, "I have refuted the claim
of the dealership knowing you so well that you could not indulge in such
practice."

I was caught in stupor! What a shocking revelation it was about
perception some people had in the service area of the Branch headed
by me. I thanked my cousin for revealing the incident and reposing faith
in my integrity. I told him that we do not have any so called setting for
any consideration with the dealership who claimed this.

Next day, I talked to my Loan Officer about that incident. He was also
shocked to know about the perception some people were spreading
about us in spite of all of us being honest and efficient. Then we analyzed
how the dealer substantiated his claim of their setting with branch to the
villagers. He had claimed that the borrower would get loan in three days
if applied through that dealership and really we had disbursed 4 loans
for his dealership in three to five days each. What a paradox! Our extra
efficiency had become a ground for making such claims seem believable
in the eyes of prospective borrowers approaching through this dealer.

We decided to cross check all cases sponsored by that dealer once again
and fortunately found that the borrowers were genuine users of pump

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