The office of Banking Ombudsman has received many complaints from customers regarding methods used by bank loan recovery agents which violate the guidelines set by the banking regulator RBI for the same.

"RBI has reported that 120 complaints had been received by 15 Banking Ombudsman Offices in year 2009-10 regarding non-observance of RBI guidelines on engagement of recovery agents by private sector banks," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Lok Sabha.

"Further, it has also been reported that HDFC Bank Ltd and ICICI Bank Ltd have reportedly violated the said guidelines," he said.

He said that guidelines for conduct of recovery agents have been given to banks detailing the engagement and training process of recovery agents. Banks have been directed to monitor key aspects like time of calling the customer and privacy of customer information etc while training recovery agents.

Banks have also been asked to perform a periodic check on the performance and modus operandi of these recovery agents.