Definitions

Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. (a) “Government” means the State Government of Bihar;
2. (b) “agent” means any person, employee, contractor, recovery agency, collection agent, field officer, or third-party service provider who is engaged, employed, appointed, or authorized by a lender to carry out loan disbursement, monitoring, collection, or recovery activities on behalf of such lender, and includes digital recovery platforms and automated recovery systems;
3. (c) “borrower” means any individual, or Group of individuals or a self-help group constituted under government programs, joint liability group, women’s collective, farmer producer organization, micro enterprise, or any group of persons having common economic interests who avails money in the form of a loan for any productive purpose from Micro Finance Institutions or Money Lending Agencies or Organizations under an agreement with terms and conditions that the money shall be repaid within a certain periods of time to such Micro Finance Institutions or Money Lending Agencies or Organizations, as the case may be;
4. (d) “coercive actions” means any act, conduct, behavior, or practice specified and prohibited under Section 7 of this Act when employed for the purpose of compelling repayment of any loan amount, interest, fees, or charges;
5. (e) “Department” shall mean Department of Finance, Government of Bihar otherwise expressly mentioned;
6. (f) “digital lending platform” means any website, mobile application, software platform, or electronic system through which loans are originated, processed, sanctioned, disbursed, monitored, or recovered using digital technology and internet connectivity, including peer-to-peer lending platforms and fintech applications;
7. (g) “family member” means spouse, children including adopted children, parents, grandparents, siblings, parents-in-law, children-in-law, and any other person who is wholly or substantially dependent on the borrower for sustenance and ordinarily resides with the borrower;
8. (h) “lender” includes any person, Hindu undivided family, partnership firm, limited liability partnership, company, society, trust, digital platform operator, or any other entity engaged in the business of advancing loans covered under this Act, but does not include entities exempted under sub-section

1. (2) of Section 2;
   • (i) “loan” means money advance to the borrower or equivalent value in cash or kind made by a lender to a borrower at interest explicitly charged or for any other consideration or benefit and includes:
   • (i) loans disbursed through digital platforms or mobile applications;
   • (ii) loans given for productive activities, consumption needs, emergency purposes, or any other lawful purposes;
   • (iii) revolving credit facilities and credit lines or overdrafts;
   • (iv) loans secured by gold, property, or other assets;
   • (j) “Registering Authority” means the Director (Institutional Finance) or any such official as may be appointed by the Government of Bihar by notifications, to perform the functions of a Registering Authority under this Act;
   • (k) “Appellate Authority” means Principal Secretary, Finance, Government of Bihar or any such official as may be appointed by the Government of Bihar by notifications, to perform the functions of a Appellate Authority under this Act;
   • (l) ‘Interest’ for the purposes of the terms defined under the provisions of this Act would mean a return on the amount lent by the MFI to a borrower.
   • (m) “Micro Finance Institution
   • (MFI) or Money Lending Agencies or Organizations or Small Loan Provides” means any person, partnership firm, group of persons, including a Company registered under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, a Non-Banking Finance Company as defined under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 a Society registered under, the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and the like, in whichever manner formed and by whatever name called, whose principal or incidental activity is to lend money or offer financial support of whatsoever nature to the needy borrower;
   • (n) “vulnerable person” means and includes:
     • (i) women borrowers, particularly single women, widows, and women from marginalized communities;
     • (ii) farmers, agricultural laborers, tenant farmers, and persons engaged in allied agricultural activities;
     • (iii) members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as defined in the Constitution of India;
     • (iv) daily wage earners, migrant workers, and persons engaged in unorganized sector employment;
     • (v) persons with disabilities as defined under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016;
     • (vi) senior citizens above the age of sixty years;
     • (vii) borrowers belonging to families below the poverty line as identified by government surveys;
     • (viii) transgender persons;
     • (ix) street vendors, domestic workers, and other marginalized occupation groups;
     • (x) any other category of persons notified as vulnerable by the State Government based on socio-economic indicators.
   • (o) “Micro Loan or Small Loan” means a loan given to the household having annual household income upto three lakh rupees or such limit as the Government may fix from time to time, by notification. Explanation: For the purpose of this clause, a household shall mean an individual family unit, i.e. husband, wife and their unmarried sons and daughters.
   • (p) Words used but not defined in this Act, shall have the same meaning assigned to them under the relevant Acts.