Area Credit Manager Jodhpur

Organization Context:

Aditya Birla Capital Limited. ABCL is registered with RBI as a Systematically Important Non-Deposit accepting Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC). ABCL is one of the top private diversified NBFCs in India. As of 31-Mar25 ABCL has a pan-India presence with 450 branches and a lending book of Rs. 1.2 Lack Crores.

ABCL offers end-to-end lending solutions to a diverse set of customers - Retail HNI MSMEs and Mid & Large Corporates through secured as well as unsecured loan products. The diverse range of lending products includes Retail Small Ticket Secured and Unsecured Loans Unsecured Personal Loans Unsecured Business Loans Health & Education Loans Digital B2B2C and B2B2B Small Ticket Loans Small Business Secured Loans Loans Against Property (LAP) Lease Rental Discounting (LRD) Construction Finance (to Real Estate Developers) SME Loans Capital Markets Loans (Loan Against Shares) Supply Chain Finance Mid and Large Corporate Loans and Infrastructure Finance loans. ABCL also has a Wealth Management division.

ABCL is rated AAA by India Ratings ICRA and CARE (reaffirmed in 2020). ABCL secured the ABG Business Excellence Award in 2017 (Silver) and 2015 (Bronze) and multiple other Awards on forums like CII.

Business Context:

The Credit Function at ABFL plays a pivotal role in enabling responsible retail lending across a vast and diverse geographical footprint. With over 420 branches covering 12500 pincodes the team supports exponential customer growth driven by both direct channels and lending service partnerships. This expansion demands robust credit evaluation and risk management meet the scale and speed of operations the department has embraced advanced technology including new APIs STPs Go-No-Go frameworks and BREs under the Lentra Revamp Project enabling faster turnaround and data-driven decisions. Analytics and data science are deeply embedded in underwriting leveraging predictive models based on personal financial demographic and bureau data.

The Credit team also supports digital sourcing especially in Supply Chain Finance and is aligned with ABFLs strategy to penetrate Tier 3 to Tier 5 cities ensuring financial inclusion. With new growth areas like Education Loans and Two-Wheeler Financing the function is central to ABFLs mission of expanding its retail loan bouquet across Indias urban and emerging markets.

As part of a top-tier NBFC with AAA credit ratings and 1.30 lakh crore AUM the Credit Function must navigate regulatory changes manage credit costs and maintain portfolio quality while supporting the companys role in Indias journey toward a USD 5 trillion economy. The role demands collaboration across Sales Risk and Operations to ensure efficient credit delivery and sound portfolio management

Job Context

The Credit function for Secured Loans in an NBFC setup plays a critical role in enabling access to medium and long-term financing for small businesses and individuals through products like Small Ticket Secured Lending (STSL) and Micro LAP (MLAP). These loans are backed by collateral and require thorough credit evaluation to ensure portfolio hygiene and risk control. The function is responsible for assessing creditworthiness using both quantitative and qualitative parameters such as business size earnings liquidity and management quality.

In a rapidly evolving financial landscape the credit team must institutionalize robust approval processes engage effectively with sales teams for complete documentation and ensure seamless adoption of credit frameworks. Technology integration is key to improving turnaround times (TAT) enabling predictive risk assessment and building a high-quality portfolio. The function also monitors key performance indicators and collaborates with stakeholders to ensure timely regularization of margin shortfalls and safety of financed amounts. Continuous process improvement initiatives are essential to enhance Return on Assets (ROA) manage costs and maintain compliance with regulatory standards and fraud risk controls.

Key Challenges:

1. Technical -The market is highly competitive with the availability of solutions that provide data at a click of a second. We need to continuously explore bring technology up to the curve as the manual leg in underwriting on the technology front is quite exhaustive.
2. Talent Retention -Retaining key talent within the team can be difficult especially if employees are seeking more. Compensation Packages from Rival companies
3. Portfolio management in dynamic environment- Portfolio management in continuously changing external environment and competition strategy can be very difficult to manage
4. FTR logins
   • To ensure availability of data and information for exhaustive credit appraisals as each of the proposals has their respective structuring complexities as per the customer product & regulatory requirements
   • Ensuring faster TATs for approval process
   • To ensure that credit and customer risk are mitigated while pending documentation is monitored and regularized
   • Proactive monitoring and identification of risks in a dynamic and fast paced business context and regularization of margin shortfalls.

Credit Underwriting Management

• Ensure timely and policy-compliant credit decisions across assigned branches.
• Support branch teams in evaluating proposals and managing turnaround time.
• Address audit and compliance observations and coordinate with collections for recovery actions

Process Improvements

• Identify and implement local process enhancements to improve efficiency and reduce manual work.
• Support adoption of digital tools and workflows at the branch level.

Portfolio Management

• Monitor bounce rates and early delinquencies using MIS dashboards.
• Implement corrective actions for high-risk accounts and support portfolio quality improvement

Business Growth

• Collaborate with sales and channel partners to support disbursement targets.
• Ensure smooth credit operations through regular engagement with stakeholders

Team Development

• Train and mentor branch credit officers to strengthen underwriting and compliance.
• Promote consistent execution of credit policies and support talent development.

Internal

1. Sales team

1. Area Credit team
2. Operations team
3. Other functions
4. Risk Management Committee

Ongoing

Ongoing

Ongoing

Monthly

Quarterly

• Proposal approvals interest rate approval providing market intelligence MIS on deviations in client accounts
• Business discussions for smooth operations
• Portfolio reviews and credit approval
• Portfolio reviews and portfolio development strategies
• Aligning self with the strategies to the organization for implementation of the vision.

External

1. Existing and Potential Customers

1. Channel Partners/ DSAs

Fortnightly

Need based

• Customer relationship management (CRM) & understanding the market pulse
• CRM commission updates & understanding the market pulse of new initiatives etc.