Department: Collections / Operations
Location: Gurugram
Mode: Work from Office
CTC: upto 60 LPA + Variable
Experience: 8+ Years
Reporting to: Group Head of Debt Collection

About the Role

The Head of Collections will lead the end-to-end collections function for the India unsecured lending portfolio, spanning early-stage delinquency prevention, late-stage recovery, restructuring, and NPA management.This role has direct accountability for portfolio performance, collection cost, regulatory compliance, and team effectiveness. The incumbent will lead the in-house collections organisation, govern a third-party agency network, set the collections strategy, and drive day-to-day execution. They will work closely with senior stakeholders across Risk, Legal, Finance, Product, Technology, Compliance, and HR.

Key Responsibilities

Collections Strategy and Portfolio Management

• Own collections strategy and performance across DPD buckets, customer segments, and delinquency stages—from early-stage prevention through recovery and NPA management.
• Develop strategies to improve collection efficiency, liquidation rates, roll rates, and recovery outcomes.
• Lead the auto-debit and mandate strategy as a key lever for reducing early-stage delinquency.
• Analyse portfolio behaviour, payment trends, and vintage performance to identify risks and improvement opportunities.
• Translate portfolio insights into timely corrective actions and clear execution plans against targets.

Agency and Partner Management

• Build, manage, and govern the third-party collection agency ecosystem.
• Lead agency selection, onboarding, allocation, incentive design, capacity planning, and performance reviews.
• Establish clear performance, quality, customer treatment, and compliance standards for all agency partners.
• Address underperformance through structured improvement plans, reallocation, or partner replacement where required.
• Ensure all agency activities comply with internal policies, borrower communication standards, and applicable regulations.

Restructuring, Recovery, and Legal Collections

• Lead restructuring, settlement, repayment-arrangement, and rehabilitation programmes for delinquent and NPA accounts.
• Own the legal recovery strategy in partnership with the Legal team, including Section 138 cheque-bounce matters, Section 9 filings, Lok Adalat, and police complaints.
• Develop recovery strategies for written-off and severely delinquent portfolios.
• Lead initiatives for portfolio sale to ARCs and maximise monetisation of written-off debt.

Regulatory Compliance and Governance

• Own collections-related SOPs, governance controls, and audit-readiness processes.
• Ensure adherence to RBI requirements, including agency governance, Fair Practice Code requirements, borrower communication standards, and NPA classification and reporting.
• Act as the key collections liaison with Legal and Compliance on regulatory developments and operational requirements.
• Ensure timely remediation of audit, compliance, and operational control observations.

Analytics, Technology, and Automation

• Govern the collections MIS and reporting framework, including Power BI dashboards and management reporting.
• Ensure reporting is actionable, timely, accurate, and linked to performance decisions.
• Identify and implement opportunities for workflow automation, AI/BOT-led communication, prioritisation, segmentation, and collections optimisation.
• Track adoption, effectiveness, and return on investment for collections technology initiatives.

Team Leadership and People Management

• Lead, structure, and scale the collections organisation, including hiring, workforce planning, KPIs, performance reviews, and succession planning.
• Build a high-performance, accountable, and customer-conscious collections culture.
• Drive team productivity, engagement, capability development, and attrition management.
• Ensure clear operating rhythms, escalation mechanisms, and ownership across the team.

Key Performance Indicators

• Collection efficiency and liquidation rate by bucket
• Target achievement across delinquency stages
• Recovery rate and restructuring conversion
• Auto-debit mandate penetration and activation rate
• Cost to collect and productivity per FTE / agency
• Agency performance, compliance, and quality scores
• ARC / portfolio sale realisation value
• Timeliness and accuracy of MIS and regulatory reporting
• Team attrition, hiring fulfilment, productivity, and engagement

Required Experience

• 10–15+ years of experience in Collections, Recovery, or Credit Operations within banking, NBFC, fintech, or consumer lending.
• Demonstrated experience leading sizable in-house collections teams and external collection agencies.
• Strong experience in an RBI-regulated environment, including SOP governance, Fair Practice Code requirements, NPA classification, and audit readiness.
• Experience using collections MIS, dashboards, and BI tools.
• Exposure to automation, digital collections, AI-driven prioritisation, or BOT-led communication is preferred.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong strategic and operational leadership in collections and recovery.
• Data-driven decision-making, with the ability to convert portfolio trends into practical action plans.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills across Risk, Legal, Finance, Product, Technology, Compliance, and HR.
• Strong people leadership in fast-paced, target-driven environments.
• High ownership, sound judgment, and the ability to balance recovery outcomes with regulatory compliance and customer treatment standards.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Management, Economics, or a related discipline.
• MBA or other postgraduate qualification is preferred.
• English proficiency at C1 level or higher.