Agent Dormancy: Reasons and Remedial Measures

• by Akshat Pathak, Anil Gupta, Vartika Shukla, Nimesh Soni, Priya Garg and Sunil Bhat
• May 6, 2016
• 1 min
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Dormancy among agents is a cause of concern for financial inclusion in India. This note focuses on some of the prominent reasons for agent dormancy.

Agent dormancy is a cause of concern for financial inclusion. MicroSave recently conducted research to understand rural customers’ perception of dormancy, the challenges faced by them after an agent goes dormant, the reasons for agent dormancy and the remedial measures to cope with this challenge. The research was carried out in 12 districts across four states of India. This Note highlights that some of the prominent reasons for agent dormancy include: payment of commission to agents, support to agents, communication issues, poor grievance redressal mechanisms, besides technology and infrastructure-related issues. The Note further highlights the role to be played by the Regulator in arresting agent dormancy.