IDBI Bank — idbi uses compliance as reason to harass old customers; but lures new ones under the cloak of 'compliance' too

Address:

Marigold House, Andheri East, Mumbai

The managers at idbi bank (Marigold branch, andheri east, mumbai) have harassed us under the guise of pending kyc for 5 months now, causing us tremendous mental trauma, and business/opportunity loss. We have calculated a claim of rs. 15 lacs to the bank for such trauma and losses, so far. If the branch does not resolve this within 48 hours, we will be forced to take this up in a consumer court and claim damages. This number is mounting by the day. Let me explain about how they have done this.

1st week of march 2020 | amount credited
We, under the name of ‘projectwell management pvt ltd’, have held an account with the marigold house, andheri east branch of idbi bank for over 10 years. Accoun no [protected]. I, parthajeet sarma, and amber malhotra are the directors and signatories in the company. Ever since the opening, the operations of the company has slowed down, and both o[censored]s have moved out of mumbai. I live in pune and amber malhotra lives in the usa. We have not done transactions in the same account for a few years. As we needed to do some compliance related payments, we had deposited an amount of rs. 2 lacs in early march 2020, so that we could issue some payments.

2nd week of march, 2020 | 1st cheque issued
We issued a cheque (No 281586) dated march 12, 2020 in favour of m. Sheth & co for rs. 1, 24, 249.00 when deepak patil from our office went to deposit this in the payee’s idbi account, he was informed that it is an old cheque and will not work. He said that we need to apply for a new cheque book. When asked if there was anything else we need to do, deepak was told nothing else needed to be done.
We quickly apply for a new cheque book, and receive a new cheque book at the address 1501 b2 dheeraj gaurav heights, andheri west, mumbai.

May 27, 2020 | 2nd cheque issued
On this date we issue a cheque in favour of m. Sheth & co from the new cheque book again (Cheque no 582402) and deposit it in the kharadi, pune branch of idbi bank. The manager of the beanch calls me later to tell me that they cannot process the cheque as there is a debit freeze on the account, due to pending kyc. I am asked to get the kyc done. This comes as a surprise and shock, as we have neither received any letter or any call in the last 10 years for any kyc, at any of our addresses.

May 29-june 4, 2020 | email reminders to help with kyc
I write several emails and reminders to idbi saswat. [protected]@idbi.co.in,
Garima. [protected]@idbi.co.in, [protected]@idbi.co.in, neha. [protected]@idbi.co.in, yash. [protected]@idbi.co.in, sangita. [protected]@idbi.co.in,
Kumar. [protected]@idbi.co.in to help us find an easy way to get the kyc done, given the fact that we were in the middle of a lockdown and also the fact that the signatories were located in pune and in the usa. No one bothered to reply. So i called up the branch a few times, and every time they would say they they will get back to us. They never did.

June 5, 2020 | first trip to mumbai under lockdown
I apply for permission from the commissioner of police, pune and get it to travel to the idbi branch in mumbai i visit the branch.. I request and plead them to make it easy for us to get the kyc done and carry whatever documents i could carry in the middle of the lockdown. They are absolutely adamant. Nothing doing, and no effort to make things easy for us. I am handed over a checklist of documents i need to deposit. The address shown on the system is 1501 b-1 dheeraj gaurav heights, mumbai 400053. The manager specifically tells me not to change this address to the pune address as this will delay kyc. I said that its fine as this address is my own residential address in mumbai (Although we currently reside in pune).

July 9, 2020 | second trip to mumbai under lockdown
I again apply for permission from the police, get it and again make a trip from pune to mumbai to visit the branch. This time, the branch manager meets me, takes me to his cabin and wants to know more about me, what kind of business we do. When he learns that we have another pvt ltd company, in the name of idream advisory services pvt ltd, where we now run most of our business, be starts selling me investment plans and other services of the bank, completely ignoring the reason i went there for, despite having explained the problems we were facing. When he noticed that i was not showing interest in his sales moves, he handed me over to one mr. Saswat. Mr. Saswat now looks at my paper and begins to tell me about all the problems with the paperwork, things like, the quality of the photocopy is not good, etc. When i ask him to help me get a print (As photocopiers were shut outside), he refuses. He displays a high degree of insensitivity and tells me about things that are missing, although i had submitted all that i was asked to submit. Out of the blue he tells me that the address shown in the system is of laxmi/crystal plaza, andheri link road and not dheeraj gaurav heights. When i tell him that in my last visit, the previous manager had confirmed that it is showing as dheeraj (And the fact that this address is also showing on the brand new cheque book), he says he cannot take that address. We will have to get address proof for the 10 year old address in the company’s name. I tell him that we do not have operations there. He is adamant, and tilting towards rudeness now. I show him the cheque book and the dheeraj address there; he says it is a mistake in the system. I tell him that i have address proof in my name for the address and i am the director. On persisting, he agrees to accept the address proof and asks me to draft a letter to the effect to accept that. I write that letter and get a printout and submit. I submit all the papers and leave.

July 27-28, 2020 | no reply to follow ups
I write emails to mr. Saswat ([protected]@idbi.co.in) requesting for an update on the kyc. He does not reply.

July 30, 2020 | third visit to branch
I ask deepak patil from our side to visit the branch in the morning and find out the status. He lands up at the bank and mr. Saswat is not to be found. Noone else in the branch has any clue about the status. Deepak gets hold of one mr. Akash and i speak with him over the phone. I explain our predicament and our problems, and request him to please help us. He says mr. Saswat is unreachable on his phone; no one knows his whereabouts. But he will find out about the status and let me know over phone or email by the evening.

On the evening of july 30, i receive an email from sourabh vats (Vats. [protected]@idbi.co.in) from idbi bank with carbon copies to saswat. [protected]@idbi.co.in, v. [protected]@idbi.co.in, [protected]@idbi.co.in and he says that a) address proof is missing b) board resolution is not on a letter head. Now #a was submitted exactly the way i was told to submit by mr. Saswat when we met, and he checked and took the papers. #b was submitted in 75 gsm paper with the company name, rubber stamped with signatures from both signatories (One in the usa and one in pune).

Why does the same branch reject a 75 gsm printed document with company name when it is a board resolution (In july), but the same branch accepts a 75 gsm printed document with company name and stamp for a new cheque book request (In march)

Secondly, i have explained our situation; we do not have an address proof for the 10 year old address (Because we do not operate from there). However we do have personal address proof for the address on the cheque book. We do not have company address proof for it because we are not really operational as a traditional business. If they could get this address (Dheeraj) in the system earlier, what is now stopping them?

Customer harrasment under the name of compliance
• we have suffered huge losses on account of the inability to complete the payment required to be done from this account. There is no sensitivity to understand this, especially in these times of the pandemic.
• the bank goes all out to lure customers to become customers. I have had a personal experience where a different branch has even offered to get an address proff ‘made’ through an agent who gets ‘shops & establishment’ certificate with the entity address for a sum of rs. 1000, so that an entity which does not have an address proof can easily open an account. The agent even does home delivery of the documents. I will be happy to share proof of this. The important thing to understand here is the fact that they are probably being compliant by setting up this network of third party brokers. At the same time, they are also hiding under the shelter of compliance when it comes to kyc, and harass their customers.
• everyone within the bank is not bad; i have also come across really helpful managers, but this particular branch managers has been the opposite of that. How can the same set of managers be ‘sugar sweet’ to the same customer (Me) if i go to open an account of invest, but be the opposite of that to me, if i have a kyc problem? Beats logic?
• what kind of compliance are we talking about if banks are allowed to credit their coffers (Like they did in our case) when a cheque is deposited despite it not having kyc, but are allowed to impose a debit freeze under the same condition. Who gains from the interest on the amount here.
• all the talk about ‘ease of doing business in india’; is a sham.in no other country does one have to go through so much trouble, so many tables, so many windows, so many times, over so many months for something as simple as that. Poorer countries that india have one window clearance. You go to get work done to a counter and they make it happen. Its as simple as that.
• there is so much talk about digital india, and then you have bank managers creating problem for the wrong paper used as letterhead, poor quality of photocopy, etc. I mean, is this for real???

If the branch does not resolve this within 48 hours, we will be forced to take this up in a consumer court and claim damages. May i request you to kindly help come to a quick resolution.

With regards,

Parthajeet sarma
Director, projectwell management pvt ltd
Phone:[protected]
Email: [protected]@gmail.com