Loan collections are the backbone of every lending business: missed follow-ups slam revenue, burn agent morale, and can turn even good borrowers into chronic defaulters. But let’s cut the drama. In India’s insanely competitive lending space, even a delay of 1 day per EMI can snowball into losses running into crores. That’s why BFSI leaders are tuning out old-school call centers and switching on Voice AI for collections. Here’s the no-jargon, all-action breakdown.
What is Collections? A Quick Refresher
Collections mean contacting borrowers about overdue EMIs or loan repayments, spearheading timely recovery to minimize bad debts and maintain healthy cash flow. Traditionally, this meant armies of agents making manual calls, juggling hundreds of borrower responses, chasing payments, and navigating complex rules, all taxing both time and resources.
Why Traditional Collections Are Breaking Down
Let’s be honest, manual collections just aren’t cutting it anymore. Banks and NBFCs are pouring money into call centers, but the results aren’t matching the spend. Here’s why the old way is struggling big time:
- Costs Are Out of Control: Paying agents, managing call centers, and training staff eats up a big chunk of what you actually collect. For every ₹100 recovered, ₹15-20 goes straight to overheads, with contact rates often below 30%, limiting your reach.
- Limited Calling Power: One agent can only make about 80–100 calls a day. When you’ve got thousands of accounts to chase, that creates a serious bottleneck, especially when actual connection rates hover around 25-35%.
- Language Roadblocks: India’s many languages and dialects are tough to handle if your team isn’t fluent. Borrowers ignore calls when they don’t feel understood.
- Annoyed Borrowers: Ever had those calls that just repeat the same thing? Borrowers feel the same frustration, leading to hang-ups and lost chances for repayment. Manual calls can see abandonment rates as high as 40%.
- Compliance Headaches: RBI rules keep changing, and it’s easy to mess up scripts or miss recording calls. That could mean penalties or even legal trouble.
- Wrong Info = Lost Trust: Old or wrong data means borrowers get calls about payments they’ve already made or wrong amounts building confusion and disputes instead of payments.
Put simply, the manual, agent-heavy way costs a lot, slows you down, and doesn’t really work well for the borrower, making it a tough place to compete in today’s fast digital world.
Enter Voice AI: Your Collections Gamechanger
Voice AI is swapping tired call centers for smart, friendly conversations. These AI-powered bots talk like real people. They switch languages, understand responses, and handle tricky questions without breaking a sweat.
The result? You get way more calls done, a single Voice AI bot can manage over 10,000 calls a day; costs drop sharply, and borrowers actually feel heard, not hassled. Plus, it keeps everything RBI-compliant without extra effort. Simply put, Voice AI is turning collections from a headache into a smooth operation.
What Voice AI Brings to the Table: Core Benefits
Voice AI is more than just automated calling: it’s a collections powerhouse. Here’s what it really does for your EMI recovery:
- Scales Effortlessly: Calls thousands of borrowers every day, without breaks or burnout.
- Cuts Costs Big Time: Slashes your collection costs by up to 60%, often reducing the average call handling time by around 30-40%, thus enabling your team to focus on high-value cases.
- Boosts On-Time Payments: Personalized, timely reminders mean more borrowers pay EMIs when they should, typically 28% more.
- Stays RBI-Ready: Every call follows strict scripts, records conversations, and logs all interactions for audits, no compliance guesswork.
- Improves Borrower Experience: Natural, local-language conversations that borrowers actually want to engage with, reducing hang-ups and complaints.
- Smart Escalation: Handles the easy stuff, and transfers tough or disputed calls to agents with full context, saving time and frustration for all.
Voice AI isn’t just a tool: it’s your secret weapon to faster, cheaper, and smarter collections.
Step-by-Step Voice AI Collections: How It Actually Works
Voice AI runs a smooth, effective collections process from start to finish, not just automated calls. Here’s how it plays out:
1. Connect and Segment
Voice AI syncs with your loan management system to pull up-to-date borrower info: EMI amounts in INR, due dates, payment history, and contact preferences. It segments borrowers by risk and overdue duration to tailor its approach.
2. Launch Smart Campaigns
The AI voicebot reaches out at ideal times in the borrower’s preferred language, delivering personalized reminders and payment options; no boring, one-size-fits-all scripts.
3. Listen, Understand, and Respond
Advanced language understanding lets the bot grasp questions, objections, or concerns naturally. It can handle common disputes on the spot: clarifying charges or payment confusion without needing an agent every time. Voice AI typically reduces call handling time by 30-40% while improving promise-to-pay (PTP) conversion rates by around 25-30%.
4. Capture Promises and Schedule Follow-ups
When borrowers commit to pay later, the AI logs ‘Promise to Pay’ (PTP) with timestamps and schedules callback reminders automatically.
5. Seamless Escalation for Complex Cases
If the dispute is serious or the borrower needs personalized help, the bot instantly transfers the call to a human agent, passing along full context so the borrower doesn’t have to repeat themselves. Escalation rates usually remain between 10-15%, balancing efficiency with support.
6. Monitor, Analyze, and Improve
Real-time dashboards track critical KPIs like contact rates, PTPs, and escalation patterns. These insights feed continuous AI learning, optimizing call scripts and campaign effectiveness over time.
Sample Call Flow: Voice AI in Indian EMI Collections
Context:
This is an automated collection call from ABC Finance to a borrower, Mr. Rajesh Kumar, who has an overdue EMI on his personal loan. The Voice AI bot confirms identity by name initially, informs about the overdue payment, handles borrower objections with empathy, makes multiple attempts to convince payment today, respects customer’s request to avoid disturbance, and finally collects a firm payment date within the next three days. The bot also offers a payment link and escalates queries to a human agent if needed.
Conversation:
Voicebot: “Hello, am I speaking with Mr. Rajesh Kumar?”
Borrower: “Yes, speaking.”
Voicebot: “Thank you, Mr. Kumar. This is an automated call from ABC Finance regarding your overdue loan EMI.”
Voicebot: “Our records show that your EMI of ₹10,200 was due on the 15th of September. Could you please let us know if you will be able to make the payment today?”
Borrower: “I’m a bit short on money this month, so I won’t be able to pay today.”
Voicebot: “I understand, Mr. Kumar. Making the payment today could help you avoid additional late fees and keep your credit history clean. Is there any way you can make even a partial payment today?”
Borrower: “No, really can’t. I have other urgent expenses.”
Voicebot: “I get that unexpected expenses come up, but every EMI payment helps you stay on track and avoid complications. Would you consider paying today to prevent extra charges?”
Borrower: “Honestly, I can’t. Please don’t keep calling me repeatedly; it’s very disturbing. I promise to pay soon.”
Voicebot: “I respect that, Mr. Kumar. I don’t want to disturb you unnecessarily. Can you please tell me a convenient date within the next three days when you can clear this EMI?”
Borrower: “Alright, I think I can manage by the 20th of September.”
Voicebot: “Thank you for the commitment. I have scheduled a reminder call for the 20th and will also send a payment link to your registered mobile number to make the process easier for you.”
Borrower: “Okay, thank you.”
Voicebot: “Before we end, do you have any questions about your loan or EMI payments I can help with?”
Borrower: “No, that’s all.”
Voicebot: “Thank you for your time. Have a good day, Mr. Kumar.”
Key KPIs BFSI Leaders Should Track
Tracking the right metrics is crucial to make sure your Voice AI collections are delivering real results. Here are the key performance indicators every BFSI leader should keep an eye on:
- Right Party Contact Rate (RPC): % of calls connecting with the actual borrower, which typically ranges from 25-35%, but Voice AI can boost this above 40% with smarter dialing.
- Promise to Pay (PTP) Rate: % of borrowers committing to payment on the call, with Voice AI improving this rate by up to 30%.
- First Call Resolution (FCR): % of calls resolved without needing escalation.
- Escalation Rate: % of calls transferred to human agents for complex issues, usually ranging between 10-15%.
- Recovery Rate Improvement: Increase in repayments or NPA reduction post Voice AI deployment; some clients report NPA reductions of up to 20%.
- Call Abandonment Rate: % of calls disconnected before completion, which should ideally be below 5%.
- Average Handle Time (AHT): Time spent per call including escalations, typically reduced by around 30-40%.
- Callback Compliance: % of promises-to-pay callbacks made on schedule.
By closely monitoring these KPIs, you can fine-tune your Voice AI campaigns, identify bottlenecks, and maximize collections while maintaining strong borrower relationships.
Why Oriserve? Your Collections Partner
When it comes to Voice AI in collections, Oriserve stands out and here’s why BFSI leaders trust us:
- Deep BFSI Expertise: Built specifically for the Indian lending ecosystem, our solutions understand your unique challenges, from regulatory compliance to vernacular language diversity.
- RBI-Ready Compliance: We bake compliance into every call with up-to-date scripts, real-time logging, and audit trails, so you never have to worry about penalties.
- Human + AI Harmony: Our Voice AI handles routine calls smartly, while seamlessly handing off complex or disputed cases to live agents, ensuring your borrowers always get the right support.
- Scalable & Flexible: Whether you have 1,000 overdue accounts or 1 million, Oriserve scales effortlessly without ballooning costs or complexity.
- Proven Impact: BFSI leaders partnering with Oriserve see up to 60% savings in collection costs and a 28% boost in on-time EMI payments, all while improving borrower satisfaction.
- Simple Integration: Our platform plugs easily into your existing loan and CRM systems, so you’re up and running fast with minimal IT hassle.
Oriserve isn’t just a vendor: it’s your partner in transforming collections from a cost center into a growth engine.
FAQs
Q: Can Voice AI handle Indian languages and dialects?
A: Yes. Advanced Voice AI supports multiple Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada, etc. and can switch dialects mid-call to ensure comfortable, natural conversations with borrowers.
Q: How does Voice AI ensure RBI compliance for collections calls?
A: Calls adhere strictly to RBI-mandated scripts, including disclosures. Every call is recorded, securely logged, and opt-out management is fully automated, ensuring you stay audit-ready and penalty-free.
Q: What is Right Party Contact (RPC) and how does Voice AI improve it?
A: RPC is the percentage of calls that reach the actual borrower, not dead or wrong numbers. Voice AI uses intelligent dialing and call timing algorithms to maximize RPC, improving collection efficiency significantly.
Q: Can the Voice AI bot handle disputes raised by borrowers?
A: Yes, the bot is capable of managing many common disputes by clarifying charges or providing relevant information in real time. For complex or unresolved disputes, calls are escalated smoothly to human agents with full context.
Q: Is borrower data secure with Voice AI platforms?
A: Absolutely. Data is encrypted end-to-end, stored in ISO and PCI DSS-compliant environments, and access is governed strictly in line with Indian data privacy regulations.
Q: Can Voice AI truly increase repayment rates?
A: Definitely. Personalized, timely, and multilingual Voice AI reminders have raised on-time payments by 25-30% on average, by reaching borrowers in a friendly, convenient way and offering easy payment options.
Q: How are promises-to-pay (PTP) tracked and managed?
A: Every borrower commitment is accurately logged with timestamped entries on real-time dashboards, enabling proactive follow-ups and improved collection outcomes.
Q: Will borrowers accept calls from bots without feeling bothered?
A: Yes, when bots speak naturally, respect preferred call times, and escalate gently to human agents when needed, borrower frustration is minimized and engagement improves.
Conclusion
Loan collections don’t have to be painful. Voice AI makes them faster, cheaper, and more borrower-friendly; helping BFSI leaders recover more with less hassle and full RBI compliance.
Ready to transform your collections and boost repayments? Book a demo with Oriserve today and see how smart automation can power your success.