SARFAESI (Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security
Interest) Act, 2002 is an act which came in 2002 to allow banks and other financial institutions to
recover their non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans without the intervention of the Court.

The Act provides three alternative methods for recovery of non-performing assets,
namely:
Securitisation
Asset Reconstruction
Enforcement of Security without the intervention of the Court

When does the act come into force?
When the customers defaults on loans i.e. not able to give back the loan amount to bank and
other financial institutions covered under the act, the loan amount given becomes NPA. Now
banks have right to auction residential or commercial properties to recover these loans under this
act without going to courts.

What rights does the act give to the bank?
To issue a notice to the customer defaulted on loan to repay the dues within 60 days from
the date of notice.
To issue notice to the person who has been sell any of the secured properties by the
customer defaulted on loan.
To ask the debtor who has to pay any amount to the customer defaulted on loan. (It might
be possible that the defaulted customer has given loan to somebody else)
Secured Agricultural land does not come under the act.

Procedure to recover loan:
When a customer takes a loan against mortgaging any property, he himself owns the
possession of the property.
When a loan becomes an NPA, a notice is issued to the customer. If after this also customer
does not give back the amount, the bank takes possession of the assets being mortgaged.
After this the bank gives advertisement in one English Newspaper and one regional
newspaper giving details about the property and other related information about auction
and invite bids from the people.
The act does not imply to loans below Rs 1 Lac or to those loans whose 20% or less of the total
amount + interest value is left to be repaid to lender (banks or other financial institutions).

#ARCHANA