Fair Practices Code

This Fair Practices Code has been prepared in compliance with the “Guidelines on Fair Practices Code
for NBFCs” issued by the Reserve Bank of India and aims to provide its borrowers an effective
overview of the practices followed by the Company and to enable borrowers to take informed
decisions in respect of the financial facilities and services offered by the Company. The Code covers
the general principles on adequate disclosures on the terms and conditions of the loan and the
procedures to be followed when dealing with the borrowers. The Code applies to all categories of
products and services offered by Hinduja Leyland Finance Ltd (“the Company”).

Objectives of the Code

The following are the primary objectives of this Code:

 Promote fair and transparent practices by setting standards in dealings with borrowers;
 Foster fair and cordial relationship between the borrowers and the Company;
 To ensure compliance with regulatory requirements with regard to customer interface;
 To strengthen mechanisms for redressal of customer grievances.

(i) Applications for loans and their processing

a. All communications to the borrower shall be in vernacular language or a language understood by

the borrower.

b. Application forms for each of the product offered by the Company would be different depending
on the information required for each product.

c. Loan Application Forms shall include all necessary information, which affects the interest of the
borrower, so that a meaningful comparison with the terms and conditions offered by other NBFCs
can be made and informed decision can be taken by the borrower. The loan application form shall
also indicate all the documents that are required to be submitted with the application form.

d. The Company would give acknowledgement for receipt of all loan applications. The time frame
within which loan applications shall be disposed of would also be indicated in the acknowledgement.

e. The Company would verify the loan applications within a reasonable period of time and if
additional details / documents are required, it would intimate the borrowers immediately.

(ii) Loan appraisal and terms/conditions

The Company would ensure that there is proper assessment of credit application made by

borrowers. The assessment would be in line with the Company's loan policies and SOP.

a. The Company shall convey in writing to the borrower in a vernacular language or a

language as understood by the borrower by means of a sanction letter, the amount of loan
sanctioned along with the terms and conditions including annualized rate of interest and method of
application thereof. The Company shall also communicate to the borrower if the loan is rejected.
Penal charges / Default charges/ Additional Finance Charges

b. Penalty if charged for noncompliance of material terms and conditions of loan contract by
the borrower shall be treated as penal charges and shall not be in the form of penal interest
on the advances. There shall be no capitalization of penal charges ie No further interest
computed on such charges.
c. This will not affect the normal procedures for compounding of interest in the loan account.
d. Penal charges shall be reasonable and commensurate with the non- compliance and
company shall have board approved penal charges.
e. The company shall impose reasonable penal charges for non compliance of material terms
and conditions of the loan contract and shall disclose the quantum and reason in the loan
agreement /Key Fact statement and shall display on website under the head interest rate and
Service charges.
f. No further interest shall be computed on such penal charges.
g. The penal charges in case of loans sanctioned to individual borrowers for purpose other than
business shall not be higher than the penal charges applicable to Non individual borrowers
for similar non compliance of material terms and conditions.
h. The Company shall keep the acceptance of these terms and conditions by the borrower on
its record.
i. The Company will furnish a copy of the loan agreement along with a copy each of all
enclosures quoted in the loan agreement to all the borrowers at the time of disbursement of
loans.

(iii) Disbursement of loans including changes in terms and conditions

The Company would ensure timely disbursement of loans sanctioned in conformity with the terms
and conditions governing such sanction.

a. The Company shall give notice to the borrower of any change in the terms and conditions
including disbursement schedule, interest rates, service charges, prepayment charges etc.
The Company shall ensure that changes in interest rates and charges are effected only
prospectively. The Loan Agreement will contain necessary provisions to this effect.
b. Decision to recall / accelerate payment or performance under the agreement shall be in
consonance with the loan agreement.
c. The Company shall release all securities on repayment of all dues or on realization of the
outstanding amount of loan, subject to any legitimate right or lien for any other claim the
Company may have against the borrower. If such right of set off is to be exercised, the
borrower shall be given notice about the same with full particulars about the remaining
claims and the conditions under which the Company is entitled to retain the securities till the
relevant claim is settled/ paid.

(iv) General

a. The Company shall refrain from interference in the affairs of the borrower except for the
purposes provided 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.).
b. In case of receipt of request from the borrower for transfer of borrowal account, the consent
or otherwise i.e., the Company’s objection, if any, shall be conveyed within 21 days from the
 date of receipt of request. Such transfer shall be as per transparent contractual terms in
consonance with law.
c. The Company would not discriminate on grounds of sex, caste and religion in the matter of
lending. However, this does not preclude the Company from participating in credit-linked
schemes framed for weaker sections of the society.
d. In the matter of recovery of loans, consistent with its policy over the years, the company
shall not resort to undue harassment viz. persistently bothering the borrowers at odd hours,
use of muscle power for recovery of loans, etc. The Company shall adequately train the
collection executives and other staff to deal with the borrowers in polite and appropriate
manner.
e. The Board of Directors of NBFC has laid down the appropriate grievance redressal
mechanism within the organization to resolve disputes arising in this regard. Such a
mechanism would ensure that all disputes arising out of the decisions of lending institutions'
functionaries are heard and disposed of at least at the next higher level. A report on the
compliance of Fair Practices Code and the functioning of the grievance’s redressal
mechanism at various levels of management would be submitted to the Board at quarterly
intervals.
f. The company shall put up the Fair Practice Code on its website in vernacular language, for
the information of various stakeholders.
g. The Company shall charge interest from the date of actual disbursement of the funds to the
borrower and not from the date of sanction of loan or date of execution of loan agreement,
if they are predated to the disbursement date.
h. In the case of disbursal or repayment of loans during the course of the month, the Company
shall charge interest only for the period for which the loan was outstanding during the
month and not for the entire month
i. The Company shall not collect advance instalments from the borrower but reckon the full
loan amount for charging interest.

(v) Repossession of Vehicles:

Company has in-built re-possession clause in the contract with the borrower which is legally
enforceable. To ensure transparency, the terms and conditions of the contract will contain provisions
regarding:

a) Notice period before taking possession;

b) Circumstances under which the notice period can be waived;
c) The procedure of taking possession of the security;
d) A provision regarding final chance to be given to the borrower for repayment of loan before
the sale / auction of the security;
e) The procedure for giving repossession to the borrower and
f) The procedure for sale / auction of security.

A copy of such terms and conditions will be made available to the borrowers in the loan
agreement along with a copy of each of all enclosures quoted in the loan agreement at the time
of disbursement of loan.

Regulation of excessive interest rate charged

The Company shall follow the appropriate internal principles and procedures in determining interest
rates and other charges in line with the approved policies from time to time.
The Company shall follow the interest rate model adopted and approved by the Board and made
available on the website. The rate of interest and the approach for gradations of risk and rationale
for charging different rate of interest to different categories of borrowers shall be disclosed in the
application form and communicated explicitly in the sanction letter.

(vi) Digital Lending

Whenever the Company resorts to lending through its own digital lending platform or through an
external lending platform, the Company shall adhere to the Fair Practices Code guidelines.

(vii)Confidentiality

Unless authorized by the customer HLF will treat all personal information as private and confidential.
Unless authorized by the customer, we will not reveal transaction details to any other entity other
than in the following exceptional cases:

(a) If we have to provide the information by statutory or regulatory laws

(b) If there is a duty to the public to reveal this information
(c) If our interest requires us to provide this information (e.g., fraud prevention) to Banks /
Financial Institutions / Our Group and Associate Companies.
(d) We will not use this reason for giving information about customers to anyone else for
marketing purposes.

(viii) Grievance Redressal Mechanism

The escalation matrix in respect of Grievance Redressal shall also be displayed at all the offices of the
company as follows:

1. Name and Contact Details of the concerned Manager – as per the grievance redressal
policy
2. Name and Contact Details of the Grievance Redressal Officer as mentioned below
3. Officer in Charge, Department of Non-Banking Supervision, Reserve Bank of India, Fort
Glacis, Rajaji Salai, Chennai – 600001.

Grievances, if any, in connection with this Code or otherwise if not addressed at the First Level of
escalation as mentioned above shall be addressed to the Grievance Redressal Officer (GRO) of the
company –

Mr. Vamsi Kumar

Hinduja Leyland Finance Limited,

Corporate Office, No. 27-A, Developed Industrial Estate, Guindy,

Chennai-600032

or by email to nodaloffi[Link]@hindujaleylandfi[Link]

In case complaint / dispute is not addressed within the period of one month of it being

addressed to the Grievance Redressal Officer (GRO) of the company the customer may

appeal to the
Officer in Charge,

Department of Non-Banking Supervision,

Reserve Bank of India,

Fort Glacis, Rajaji Salai,

Chennai – 600001.

or by email to dnbschennai@[Link]

(ix) Monitoring:
A review of the compliance of the Fair Practices Code including the grievances redressal mechanism
would be done by the Management regularly and a consolidated report will be submitted to the
Board of Directors periodically.

This Code was last reviewed and approved by the Board on 5th November,2024.

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