Early Bucket Caller AI

Invoked when: account appears on the Collections Head AI's daily work-list with a contact instruction for the current day

• –Reads the account brief from the Collections Head AI — DPD days, last payment date, outstanding amount, prior contact history from the CRM, and the recommended channel for today's contact — and executes the contact in the specified channel using the pre-approved template for the account's DPD band and contact attempt number. A first WhatsApp reminder for DPD day 3 uses a different tone than a third-attempt IVR call on DPD day 22 — each template is calibrated for the appropriate moment in the collection cycle.
• –Follows a graduated contact sequence: WhatsApp message first (lowest friction, highest open rate, leaves a non-intrusive record), IVR outbound if no response or no payment within 24 hours, SMS as a fallback for borrowers not reachable on WhatsApp or IVR, and human agent escalation when the automated sequence has exhausted its attempts or the account reaches DPD 25 without resolution. The sequence is configured by the Collections Head team and applied consistently — the agent does not skip steps or apply ad-hoc sequences.
• –Checks the CBS payment status in real time before each contact attempt — if the borrower has made a payment since the last CBS update, the contact is cancelled automatically and a payment acknowledgment message is sent instead of a reminder. Contacting a borrower who has already paid is the most avoidable FPC violation in automated collections; the real-time CBS check prevents it.
• –Operates only between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM as an architectural constraint — not a soft configuration. Any contact job scheduled outside this window is held until 8:00 AM the following day. The agent does not accept overrides to this constraint from any source, including the Collections Head AI's daily work-list.

Invoked when: borrower responds to a WhatsApp message or IVR prompt indicating they intend to pay, with or without a specific date

• –When a borrower responds to a WhatsApp message with a payment intent signal — "will pay tomorrow," "paying on the 15th," "I'll transfer this evening" — the agent classifies the response as a Promise-to-Pay, extracts or confirms the committed payment date, and creates a structured PTP record in the CRM: borrower-stated date, amount confirmed (if stated), channel of promise, and timestamp.
• –For IVR interactions: when the borrower selects the "I will pay" DTMF option and provides a payment date (via DTMF date entry or voice capture where the IVR supports it), the agent creates the PTP record from the captured response. Where the IVR does not capture a specific date, the PTP is recorded as "committed, date not specified" and the account is flagged for a follow-up WhatsApp message asking the borrower to confirm their payment date.
• –Sends a PTP confirmation message to the borrower on the channel where the promise was made — confirming the committed date, the amount due, and the payment link or UPI ID. On the committed payment date, sends a same-day reminder at 10:00 AM if payment has not yet been received in the CBS. If payment is still not received by 5:00 PM, flags the PTP as breached and routes the account back to the Collections Head AI's work-list with a PTP breach flag.
• –Does not negotiate the payment date on the borrower's behalf or grant any extension of terms. If a borrower responds requesting more time than a standard PTP date, the agent acknowledges the request and escalates to a human collections officer — it does not approve payment deferrals, partial payments, or restructuring terms of any kind.

Invoked at each contact attempt — channel selection is dynamic based on prior attempt history and borrower response patterns

• –Manages the WhatsApp contact workflow end to end: dispatch of RBI-compliant, WABA-approved templates, handling of borrower replies within the 24-hour WhatsApp messaging window, classification of replies (payment confirmation, PTP, hardship, dispute, unsubscribe/stop, no response), and appropriate follow-up action for each reply type. Replies that cannot be classified into the configured response categories are escalated to a human collections officer with the full reply text.
• –Manages the IVR outbound call workflow: call initiation, delivery of the pre-recorded script for the applicable DPD band and attempt number, DTMF response capture (1 = I have paid / 2 = I will pay / 3 = I need help / 4 = Dispute / 0 = Speak to agent), and routing based on the borrower's selection. Option 3 (need help) and Option 4 (dispute) route immediately to a human collections officer — the IVR does not attempt to handle hardship or dispute conversations through automated menus.
• –Respects WhatsApp opt-out signals: if a borrower sends "STOP," replies with "Do not contact me," or blocks the messaging number, the agent immediately adds the account to the Do Not Contact list, logs the opt-out in the CRM, and routes the account to a human collections officer for an alternative contact approach review. The opt-out is processed within the same session — there is no lag period during which the agent might send another message after receiving a stop request.
• –Complies with TRAI's DND (Do Not Disturb) registry: the agent checks the transactional message DND exemption status for each borrower before dispatching any message. Where TRAI DND status is unclear or a borrower is on the DND registry without a transactional exemption, the message is held and the account is routed to the human team for an alternative contact assessment.