Young people in India now running up severe credit card debt

• From instant consumerist nirvana, south Delhi plastic junkie Sumit Khurana woke up one morning to a debt nightmare: a 'collector' had landed at his doorstep after repeated phonecalls.
• He refused to budge until Sumit paid the immediate payment due on his outstanding amount of Rs 30,000.
• Sumit had to take a loan of Rs 1 lakh to pay off the dues on all his credit cards.
• For an EMI-living middle class India striving for a good life, easy loans and credit cards have brought closer not only their dreams --- house, luxury car, luxury holiday --- but also that circle of debt.
• "Bad debt is fast catching up with consumers and is becoming a major worry for most banks," says Vijay Mehta of Mumbai-based Credit Card and Management Consultancy.
• The 'default' rate --- money which is never paid back by consumers --- is 8 per cent of all outstanding credit of card companies, and may touch 10 per cent by year-end, he says.
• Probably the reason why multinational banks now hire three types of agents: for selling, for verification and determining credit worthiness, and for recovery.
• It doesn't matter if your income is as low as Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month.
• In fact, entry-level employees form a major chunk of those taking personal loans, says loan agent for HDFC, K K Sharma.
• "Market mein gol gappa dekhte ho to kha lete hai."
• (You end up eating gol gappas in the market even if you hadn't planned on it.)
• That's why banks are aggressively marketing loans.
• Besides home loans and car loans --- growing at about 40 per cent --- there is a huge increase in the number of personal loans also.