Pursuant to Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s Circular DNBS (PD) CC No.80/03.10.042 /2005-06 of 28 September 2006,and RBI/2010-11/25DNBS (PD) CC No.185/03.10.042 /2010-11 dtd July 1, 2010 issued to Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), we the Board of Directors have adopted a Fair Practices Code. The code applies to all loan products offered by the company.

The Fair Practices Code, as adopted hereinbelow, is in conformity with the Guidelines on Fair Practices Code for NBFCs as contained in the aforesaid RBI Circular.

The Fair Practices code applies to the following areas:

I    Applications for loans and their processing

• Loan application forms shall include necessary information, which affects the interest of the borrower, so that a meaningful comparison with the terms and conditions can be made and the borrower can take an informed decision. The loan application form shall also indicate the documents required to be submitted with the application form.
• After receipt of loan application and preliminary discussion with the prospective borrower, a term sheet will be issued indicating standard schedule of fees/charges relating to the loan application depending on the segment to which the accounts belong in a transparent manner. Likewise, amount of fee refundable in the event of non-acceptance of the application, pre-payment options and any other matter, which affects the interest of the borrower, will also be made known to the borrower at the time of issuance of term sheet.
• Receipt of completed application forms will be duly acknowledged. The time frame within which the loan application will be disposed of would also be indicated in the acknowledgement. Generally, applications for retail financial products such as Loan Against Shares, Promoter Funding, ESOP Finance etc. will be disposed of within a time frame of 30 days and those for Corporate Loans within 45 days from the date of submission of complete information.
• In case of rejection of loan application, irrespective of category of loans or threshold limits, the same would be conveyed in writing along with the main reason(s), which led to rejection of the loan application.

II     Loan appraisal and terms/conditions

• STCI shall convey in writing to the borrower by means of letter of intent or otherwise, the amount of loan approved - along with the terms and conditions, including the annualized rate of interest and method of application thereof. It would keep the acceptance of these terms and conditions by the borrower on the Company’s files.
• Appropriate internal principles and procedures for determining interest and other charges shall be laid down and be subjected to review keeping in view the business exigencies, regulatory and customer sentiments, market practices etc
• Copy of loan documents, along with a copy of all relevant enclosures will be made available to the borrower on request. Standard letter of intent would include instances of approval, disallowance, etc. STCI shall be under no legal obligation to consider increase/additional limits/facilities without proper review/assessment.

III  Disbursement of loans including changes in terms and           conditions

• Disbursement of loans sanctioned shall be made immediately on compliance of terms and conditions including execution of loan documents governing such sanction.
• Any change in terms and conditions, including interest rate and other charges/levies will be informed individually to the borrowers in case of account specific changes and in case of others by Public Notice/STCI's website from time to time.
• Changes in interest rates and charges/levies will be effected prospectively. A suitable provision in this regard shall be incorporated in the loan agreement.
• Consequent upon such changes any supplemental deeds/documents or writings are required to be executed, the same shall also be advised. Further, availability of facility will be subject to execution of such deeds/documents or writings.

IV   Post disbursement supervision

• Post disbursement supervision would be constructive with a view to taking care of any genuine difficulties that the borrower may face.
• Before taking a decision to recall/accelerate payment or performance under the agreement or seeking additional securities, STCI would give reasonable notice to the borrower as per the agreement.
• The company shall release all securities pertaining to the loan on receipt of full and final payment of the loans subject to borrower satisfying any legitimate right/any other claim that STCI may have against the borrowers. If such right is to be exercised, borrowers would be given due
  and proper notice with requisite details.

V    Other general provisions

• The Company shall refrain from interference in the affairs of the borrower except for the purposes provided for in the terms and conditions of the loan agreement (unless new information not earlier disclosed by the borrower, has come to the notice of the Company). However, this does not imply that STCI’s right of recovery and enforcement of security under Law as well as appointment of nominee directors, where required, is affected by this commitment.
• In case of receipt of request from the borrower for transfer of borrowal account, the consent or otherwise - i.e., objection of the Company, if any,  shall be conveyed to the borrower within 21 days from the date of receipt of any request. Such transfer shall be as per transparent contractual terms in consonance with law.
• Company’s collection policy shall be built on courtesy, fair treatment and persuasion.
• In the matter of recovery of loans, the Company shall not resort to any harassment – such as persistently bothering the borrowers at odd hours, use of muscle power for recovery of loans, etc.
• STCI will not discriminate on the grounds of gender, caste, religion or region in its lending policy and activity.

VI  Complaints/Redressal:

The Company shall have a Grievance Redressal Forum within the organisation to resolve disputes arising in this regard. The said forum will meet within a period of 2 weeks from the date of receiving any grievance intimation. The Board of Directors shall also provide for periodical review of the compliance of the Fair Practices Code and the functioning of the grievances redressal mechanism at various levels of management. A consolidated report of such reviews shall be submitted to the Board at regular intervals, as may be prescribed by it. The constitution of the forum will be as under

The Company shall put the above Fair Practices Code outlined hereinabove on its web site, for the information of various stakeholders. The Company would also review and refine the Code annually besides whenever any fresh guidelines, are issued by the RBI in this regard. Any suggestions for better costumer service are greatly valued by the company.