When a lease suspension stops a mining district, tipper loans fail together. What we learned from an earlier suspension, and what to do in the first two weeks.
What happened last time
In an earlier lease suspension in one of our mining districts, 410 tipper loans stopped earning within a week. We treated them as ordinary delinquencies: bucket by bucket, one case at a time. By the time the leases reopened seven months later, 38% of the loans were 90+ DPD and we had repossessed 61 tippers into a market where nobody was buying tippers. Resale values fell by a third.
What we would do differently
See it early. The first signs were in the data before the first missed instalment: FASTag trips fell by more than 80% in a fortnight, and e-way bills on the operators' GSTINs dropped with them. The EWS now reads both (U1, U5) and links district events to loans (E1).
Treat the district as one case. Pull every tipper loan in the affected districts, not just the flagged ones. Note the exposure and how many are already in arrears.
Stop new lending at once. Pause new tipper loans and top-ups in the district until the review ends. This needs a leadership decision on day one.
Call every operator in the first week. Ask where the tippers are parked, whether there is other work (road projects, sand, construction) and how long the operator can pay without trips.
Protect the asset, not the bucket. Make sure insurance stays in force; an uninsured tipper that is damaged in the yard is a total loss. Chase renewals before any lapse date.
Reschedule rather than repossess for operators with a clean record and a credible plan, under KB-005. Repossess only where the vehicle is at risk.
Field visit checklist for a stopped tipper
Where is it parked, and is it secure?
Is the insurance in force, and when does it lapse?
Has the operator found other work, and for how many of the fleet?
Is anyone asking to buy the tippers?
Signals to watch
FASTag trips (U1), e-way bills (U5), district event (E1), insurance lapses (C1) and new borrowing elsewhere (B2). A bureau score drop (B1) usually follows within a month as operators miss payments on other loans first.