Bajaj Finserv Chairman and MD Sanjiv Bajaj Bajaj Finserv Chairman and MD Sanjiv Bajaj Bajaj Finserv Chairman and MD Sanjiv Bajaj When Sanjiv Bajaj said individuals seeking to avoid pesky unsolicited calls from Bajaj Finance representatives will soon have the "right to be forgotten" by the company, little did he realise that his words would have such a massive impact.
Sanjiv Bajaj, chairman and managing director of Bajaj Finserv Ltd, the holding company of the group, said mobile phone users will soon have the right to be forgotten by Bajaj Finance.
"You will see in three months' time, on our website and our app, an option -- you click it and we will never bother you again. You'll have the right to be forgotten with us but then make sure, you never come back to us for our products and solutions," Bajaj said on telemarketing calls used to push loans.
Bajaj's comment comes at a time when Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked telcos to take immediate actions to curb the menace of unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) that, at times, leads to instances of frauds and scams.
His comment, however, did not go down well with Internet users, who lashed at him for his "attitude" and "arrogance".
"Mr. Sanjiv Bajaj is living in a delusional world. Sad part is reputed corporate houses like Bajaj & Kotak being responsible for such aggressive spam. But worse part is the attitude and justification of spam call as a barter for loan opportunity. Most of us don’t need it!," a Twitter user said.
"If you have never heard of Customer Disrespect’ #SanjivBajaj is here to demonstrate it..," another added.
A third said, "Absolute arrogance from Sanjiv Bajaj. It’s like I will keep irritating you with unwanted calls and you have no right to complain."
According to Bajaj, loans solicited through “push calls” account for less than 15 per cent of the NBFC's business and the aim is to bring it down to less than 10 per cent and then even lower the organisation gets more digital.
“The aim would ideally be getting that 15 per cent down to 10 per cent or take it down to zero so that our calls would only be service calls. All promotional activities will happen through our digital channels. That is the aim we want to get to,” he said.
Reacting to his comments on telemarketing, a user mentioned, "This is the peek of capitalism, especially from Bajaj Family, simply disgusting, shame on you Sanjiv Bajaj."
"He is talking as if they give out that loan for free. As if people are not paying back the EMIs. But that doesn't give you a right to call people indiscriminately to the extent of harassing them. If arrogance had a face it would look like Sanjiv Bajaj. Very poorly conveyed," another said.
For the quarter ending March, Bajaj Finance reported a 30 per cent YoY jump in profit at Rs 3,158 crore compared with Rs 2,420 crore in the same quarter last year.
Bajaj Finance said it was a strong quarter across all financial and portfolio metrics. It delivered Rs 16,537 crore of core asset under management (AUM) growth in the March quarter and added 30.90 lakh new customers to the franchise during the quarter.