4.10 Field verification (FI) and collections agents
What field operations cover
Section titled “What field operations cover”- FI (Field Investigation) at onboarding — verify business address, shop, office, owner presence, signage, employees seen.
- Collection visits for delinquent borrowers (typically SMA-2 and beyond).
- Document collection in remote / non-digital scenarios.
- Repossession for secured products (LAP, equipment) — out of MVP scope.
For an SME WC platform underwriting digitally, FI is often optional at MVP for low-ticket / strong-data borrowers, and mandatory for larger tickets or thin-data borrowers per risk policy.
Vendors
Section titled “Vendors”| Vendor | Capability |
|---|---|
| FI agencies (regional) | Many regional vendors with field teams; quality varies; lender manages directly |
| FieldEZ | Field-app + workflow SaaS |
| Service-app vendors (custom) | NBFCs often build their own field-agent app on top of a SaaS framework |
| Karza / Bureau | Sometimes facilitates FI bookings |
For at-scale operations, lenders usually:
- Maintain agent panel (mix of in-house and vendor).
- Build / buy field-agent app for case allocation, navigation, photo capture, disposition.
- Aggregate FI reports into the LOS.
Field-agent app
Section titled “Field-agent app”Capabilities
Section titled “Capabilities”- Login + role-based.
- Case queue (assigned cases).
- Navigation to address.
- Geo-tag of arrival + departure.
- Photo capture (shop front, inside, owner photo, signage).
- Form-fill (verification questions, owner declarations).
- Signature capture (borrower / owner).
- Disposition (verified / not-verified / re-visit / wrong-address).
- Offline mode (sync when connectivity returns).
Build vs buy
Section titled “Build vs buy”- Build if heavy customisation per FI flow / product / region. Most large NBFCs end up here.
- Buy SaaS (FieldEZ etc.) if standard FI flows are enough.
FI process
Section titled “FI process”- FI case created at sanction (per policy).
- Auto-allocated to nearest agent.
- Agent visits, completes form on app.
- Photos + geo-tag + form uploaded.
- FI report generated.
- Reviewer disposition (accept / reject / re-FI).
- Sanction proceeds or holds.
Pricing
Section titled “Pricing”- Per FI:
₹150 – ₹500(own vendor); higher for distant / commercial. - Per collection visit:
₹100 – ₹400.
Compliance
Section titled “Compliance”- Recovery-agent rules for collection visits — agent ID + training + intimation.
- Time-of-day for visits.
- Geo-tag + photo evidence for audit.
- DPDP for photographs / signatures.
Build vs buy
Section titled “Build vs buy”- Field-agent app: Build (with a robust BaaS like Firebase for offline) or Buy (FieldEZ-like SaaS).
- FI vendor panel: Manage in-house with regional vendors.
- Disposition / case-management: Build in your case-management.