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Date : Mar 11, 2024
Annual Report of Ombudsman Scheme, 2022-23
CONTENTS
Select Abbreviations
Foreword
Executive Summary
Chapter 1 The Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2021: Activities during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
Receipt of complaints
Ombudsman Office wise allocation of complaints
Geographic dispersion of complaints across the states
Mode of receipt of complaints at ORBIOs
Population group-wise receipt of complaints at ORBIOs
Complainant type-wise receipt of complaints
Regulated Entity type-wise receipt of complaints
Disposal of complaints
Mode of disposal of maintainable complaints
Reasons for closure of complaints under non-maintainable clauses
Receipt of Appeals
Cost of handling a complaint
Turn Around Time (TAT) for disposal of complaints
Bank group-wise complaint conversion ratio
Chapter 2 Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre
Receipt and disposal of complaints at CRPC
Mode of receipt of complaints at CRPC
Reasons for closure of complaints at CRPC
Calls received at the Contact Centre
Handling of calls at CC
Language-wise receipt of calls
Broad-basing and Upgrade of the Reserve Bank Contact Centre
Chapter 3 Complaints received through Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) and applications under Right to Information Act, 2005
Complaints received through Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS)
Applications received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005
Chapter 4 Other Developments
Widening the coverage of the RB-IOS, 2021 by inclusion of Credit Information Companies
Rolling out the Internal Ombudsman Scheme for Credit Information Companies
Committee for Review of Customer Service Standards in RBI Regulated Entities
G20 High-Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection
Pan India Intensive Awareness Campaign
Review of the framework for Strengthening of Grievance Redress Mechanism in banks
Opening / reorganisation of ORBIOs
Digitalisation of data compiled through incognito visits
Important regulatory measures relating to Customer Service and Protection taken by RBI
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) of major areas of complaints
Way forward
APPENDICES

TABLES
Table No. Table Title
Table 1.1 Total receipt of complaints under the Ombudsman framework
Table 1.2 Office-wise allocation of complaints at the ORBIOs
Table 1.3 Complainant type-wise receipt of complaints at the ORBIOs
Table 1.4 Regulated Entity type-wise receipt of complaints at the ORBIOs
Table 1.5 Category wise receipt of complaints at ORBIOs
Table 1.6 Disposal and Pendency position at the ORBIOs
Table 1.7 Mode of disposal of maintainable complaints by ORBIOs
Table 1.8 Receipt and disposal of Appeals under the Ombudsman Schemes for past three years
Table 2.1 Receipt, Disposal and Pendency position at the CRPC
Table 2.2 Call Data at Contact Centre (April 2022 – March 2023)

CHARTS
Chart No. Chart Title
Chart 1.1 Geographic dispersion of complaints received per lakh accounts
Chart 1.2 Mode of receipt of complaints for the past three years
Chart 1.3 Population group-wise receipt of complaints at ORBIOs
Chart 1.4 Reasons for non-maintainable complaints
Chart 1.5 Total volume of disposed complaints along with their TAT
Chart 1.6 Complaint Conversion Ratio
Chart 2.1 Complaints received at the CRPC (April 2022 - March 2023)
Chart 2.2 Number of complaints received at the CRPC (April 2022 - March 2023)
Chart 2.3 Mode of receipt of complaints at CRPC (April 2022 - March 2023)
Chart 2.4 Reason for closure of complaints at CRPC (April 2022 - March 2023)
Chart 2.5 Total Calls received at Contact Centre (April 1, 2022 - March 31, 2023)
Chart 2.6 Language-wise calls at Contact Centre (April 2022 - March 2023)
Chart 2.7 Calls received in Regional Languages (April 2022 - March 2023)
Chart 2.8 Contact Centre – Journey so far

APPENDICES
Appendix 1.1: Mode of receipt of complaints at the ORBIOs for the past three years
Appendix 1.2: Office-wise receipt of Appeals during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
Appendix 1.3: Office-wise Cost of handling complaints
Appendix 1.4: Mode of disposal of Maintainable Complaints against Scheduled Commercial Banks
Appendix 2.1: Receipt of complaints at CRPC
Appendix 2.2: Month wise receipt of complaints at CRPC
Appendix 2.3: Mode of receipt of complaints at CRPC
Appendix 3.1: Position of complaints received through CPGRAMS
Appendix 3.2: Applications received by ORBIOs and CRPC under RTI Act, 2005
Appendix 4.1: Number of awareness programmes conducted during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
Appendix 4.2: Important policy initiatives relating to Customer Service issued by RBI in 2022-23 (April – March)

ANNEXURES
Annexure No. Annexure Title
Annexure 1 Statement of complaints received against banks by the ORBIOs during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
Annexure 2 Statement of complaints received against NBFCs by the ORBIOs during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
Annexure 3 Statement of complaints received against NBPSPs by the ORBIOs during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
Annexure 4 Statement of complaints received against CICs by the ORBIOs during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023

Select Abbreviations

AEPS Aadhar Enabled Payment System
AFA Additional Factor of Authentication
AGR Alternate Grievance Redress
AI Artificial Intelligence
ATM Automated Teller Machine
BBPOU Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit
BOS Banking Ombudsman Scheme
CC Contact Centre
CEPC Consumer Education and Protection Cell
CEPD Consumer Education and Protection Department
CIC Credit Information Company
CMS Complaint Management System
CPGRAMS Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System
CRPC Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre
DC Debit Card
DLA Digital Lending Application
FPC Fair Practices Code
FRC First Resort Complaint
FSWM Financially Sound and Well Managed
GoI Government of India
IO Internal Ombudsman
IVRS Interactive Voice Response System
NBFC Non-Banking Financial Company
NBPSP Non-Bank Payment System Participant
NIAP Nationwide Intensive Awareness Programme
NPCI National Payments Corporation of India
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
ORBIO Office of Reserve Bank of India Ombudsman
OSDT Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions
OSNBFC Ombudsman Scheme for NBFCs
PPI Prepaid Payment Instrument
PSO Payment System Operator
PSU Public Sector Undertaking
RBI Reserve Bank of India
RBIO Reserve Bank of India Ombudsman
RB-IOS Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme
RCA Root Cause Analysis
RE Regulated Entity
RRB Regional Rural Bank
RTI Right to Information
SCB Scheduled Commercial Bank
SMS Short Message Service
TAT Turn Around Time
UCB Urban Cooperative Bank
UPI Unified Payments Interface

Foreword

The year 2022 marked a significant juncture in the financial consumer protection landscape as the G20/OECD High Level Principles (HLPs) on Financial Consumer Protection were updated for the first time after their introduction in 2011. The major changes to the Principles were inclusion of two new Principles, viz., ‘Access and Inclusion’ and ‘Quality Financial Products’ and three new cross-cutting themes namely ‘Digitalisation’, ‘Financial Well-being’ and ‘Sustainable Finance’, which are relevant to the consideration and implementation of each and all of the Principles. These Principles are the leading international standards guiding effective and comprehensive financial consumer protection frameworks across the globe.

On the domestic front, as India set a vision for an empowered and inclusive economy, the consumers of the banking and financial sector need to be aware of their rights, responsibilities and safe banking practices as well as avenue for redress of their grievances. RBI has taken series of initiatives to achieve this objective and the Alternate Grievance Redress framework of RBI aims just that backed by a revamped, restructured and integrated Ombudsman mechanism put in place in November 2021.

The Annual Report of the Ombudsman Scheme 2022-23 sheds light on the activities and functioning of the Ombudsmen, awareness initiatives undertaken through Ombudsman Speak and focused Nationwide Intensive Awareness Programme, additional Contact Centres with Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery capabilities and various policy initiatives to strengthen the customer protection framework.

This Annual Report is the second after the launch of the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS) in 2021 and the first full-year report under the RB-IOS, 2021. I hope all the stakeholders would find it useful.

Sd/-
(Neeraj Nigam)
Executive Director & Appellate Authority


Executive Summary

The Annual Report of the Ombudsman Scheme 2022-23 is the first stand-alone report under the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS), 2021 (the Scheme) elucidating the activities of the 22 Offices of the RBI Ombudsman (ORBIOs), Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre (CRPC) and the Contact Centre during the year.

The RB-IOS, 2021 was rolled out in November 2021 by integrating the three erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes viz., Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 2006, Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies (OSNBFC), 2018, and Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions (OSDT), 2019. Initially, the Scheme covered all Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Scheduled Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks and Non-Scheduled Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks with deposits size of ₹50 crore and above as on the date of the audited balance sheet of the previous financial year, all Non-Banking Financial Companies (excluding Housing Finance Companies) which (a) are authorised to accept deposits; or (b) have customer interface, with an assets size of ₹100 crore and above as on the date of the audited balance sheet of the previous financial year, and all Payment System Participants as defined under the Scheme.

With the experience gained ensuing the launch and implementation of RB-IOS, 2021, Credit Information Companies (CICs) were brought under the ambit of the Scheme from September 1, 2022.

Receipt of Complaints under the RB-IOS, 2021 framework

Under the RB-IOS, 2021, 7,03,544 complaints were received at the ORBIOs and the CRPC between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, showing an increase of 68.24% over last year. Of these, 2,34,690 complaints were allocated to and handled by the 22 ORBIOs, whereas 4,68,270 complaints were closed by CRPC as non-complaints / non-maintainable complaints. Around 85.64% of the total complaints were received through digital modes, including on the online Complaint Management System (CMS) portal, email, and Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS). The overall disposal rate for the year at the ORBIOs stood at 97.99% with an average Turn Around Time (TAT) of 33 days. RB-IOS, 2021 envisages settlement of complaints through facilitation / conciliation / mediation and thereby, majority of the maintainable complaints (57.48%) disposed by ORBIOs were resolved through mutual settlement / conciliation / mediation. During the year, a total of 122 Appeals were received against the decisions of the RBI Ombudsmen, of which 119 Appeals were received under the RB-IOS, 2021 and the remaining three were received under the erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes.

Other developments during the year

The major initiatives undertaken during the year in the consumer education and protection vertical are listed below:

  1. A month long ‘Nationwide Intensive Awareness Programme’ was launched in November 2022 in collaboration with the Regulated Entities (REs) to reach the hitherto excluded / isolated sections of populations and remotest areas in the country, especially in the Tier-III and IV cities, rural areas, etc. The event was a huge success covering approximately three crore people through physical mode and 25 crore people through digital mode.

  2. The second edition of the ‘Ombudsman Speak’ event was conducted on March 15, 2023 on the occasion of ‘World Consumer Rights Day’ and all the 22 RBI Ombudsmen interacted with local / regional multimedia channels in their respective regions.

  3. The RBIOs conducted 48 town-hall events and 238 awareness programmes during the year. These events were carried out on avenues of grievance redress and consumer protection issues with special focus on specific audience group viz., servicemen, school / college students, consumer groups.

  4. A Committee for Review of Customer Service Standards in RBI Regulated Entities (REs) was set up on May 23, 2022, under the Chairmanship of Shri B P Kanungo, former Deputy Governor, RBI, for examining and reviewing the standards of customer service in REs, assessing adequacy of customer service regulation and suggest measures for improving the same. The committee submitted its report on April 24, 2023 and the recommendations are being examined and will be considered for implementation after taking into consideration, the suggestions and feedback received from stakeholders.

  5. The Internal Ombudsman Scheme, rolled out by RBI in 2015 and mandated to all scheduled commercial banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks) in 2018, Non-Bank Payment System Participants in 2019 and select NBFCs in 2021, was extended to all the CICs in October 2022.

  6. To develop Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery capabilities, the project for the development of State-of-the-Art Contact Centre at two more locations viz., Bhubaneshwar and Kochi is underway along with upgradation of the existing Contact Centre at Chandigarh.

Way forward

During the period April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, as part of the Reserve Bank’s medium-term strategy framework for 2023-25 (Utkarsh 2.0), CEPD will:

  1. Review, consolidate and update the extant Reserve Bank regulatory guidelines on customer service;

  2. Review and integrate the internal ombudsman schemes, applicable to different RE types;

  3. Establish Reserve Bank Contact Centre at two additional locations for local languages, including disaster recovery and business continuity facility.

Additionally, the recommendations made by the Committee for Review of Customer Service Standards in RBI Regulated Entities will be examined for suitable implementation.


Chapter 1
The Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2021:
Activities during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023

The Reserve Bank of India, as part of its commitment to consumer protection and maintaining trust in the banking system, had introduced the Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS) in 1995, followed by Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies (OSNBFC) in 2018 and the Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions (OSDT) in 2019. The Ombudsman Schemes by RBI provided an expeditious and cost-free Alternate Grievance Redress platform for customer complaints that had not been satisfactorily redressed by the Regulated Entities (REs). Since inception, the Ombudsman Schemes have become an essential instrument in enhancing customer protection and encouraging REs to adopt better practices in resolving customer grievances.

In November 2021, the three erstwhile Ombudsman schemes were integrated into a single scheme viz. the Reserve Bank - Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS), 2021 (the Scheme), based on the recommendations made by an Internal Working Group. The Scheme was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on November 12, 2021. The Scheme adopts “One Nation One Ombudsman” principle and provides single window for resolution of complaints against the REs viz. banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), Payment System Participants and Credit Information Companies. The Scheme has moved away from the multiple and diverse grounds of complaints under the old schemes, to ‘deficiency in service’ as the sole ground for lodging complaints, thereby reducing complexities and facilitating speedy resolution of complaints.

Under RB-IOS, 2021, the redressal / adjudication of complaints is presently handled by 24 Offices of RBI Ombudsman (ORBIOs) and the Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre (CRPC). During the year 2022-23, the total number of complaints received by the ORBIOs and CRPC was 7,03,544 complaints as against 4,18,184 complaints during 2021-22, showing an increase of 68.24%. Of these, 2,34,690 complaints were handled by the ORBIOs and 4,68,854 complaints were disposed at the CRPC. The complaints disposed at the ORBIOs have an average Turn Around Time (TAT) of 33 days during 2022-23, which improved significantly from 44 days during 2021-22.

Majority (57.48%) of maintainable complaints disposed under RB-IOS, 2021 were resolved through mutual settlement / conciliation / mediation. Rest of the maintainable complaints were either rejected by RBIOs or withdrawn by the complainants or adjudicated by passing of Awards. Complaints relating to Mobile / Electronic Banking were the highest contributor to the total number of complaints received against banks as well as non-bank payment system participants, while complaints relating to Non-adherence to Fair Practices Code were the highest in respect of NBFCs.

1.1 The Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS), 2021 (the Scheme) was launched on November 12, 2021 by the Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi as part of the Alternate Grievance Redress (AGR) Framework of RBI for resolving customer grievances in relation to services provided by the Regulated Entities of Reserve Bank in an expeditious and cost-effective manner. On the date of the launch, the Scheme covered the following regulated entities:

  1. all Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Scheduled Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks and Non-Scheduled Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks with deposits size of ₹50 crore and above as on the date of the audited balance sheet of the previous financial year;

  2. all Non-Banking Financial Companies (excluding Housing Finance Companies) which (a) are authorised to accept deposits; or (b) have customer interface, with an assets size of ₹100 crore and above as on the date of the audited balance sheet of the previous financial year;

  3. all Payment System Participants as defined under the Scheme.

1.2 The Credit Information Companies (CICs) were brought under the Scheme with effect from September 1, 2022 to provide an avenue for AGR to the customers of REs covered under the RB-IOS, 2021 in respect of their complaints against CICs. The Scheme is being administered by the Consumer Education and Protection Department of the Reserve Bank through 24 Ombudsmen offices within the overarching principle of ‘One Nation One Ombudsman’.

Receipt of complaints

1.3 Under RB-IOS, 2021, there was a significant increase in number of complaints and a total of 7,03,544 complaints were received at the ORBIOs and CRPC in 2022-23, showing an increase of 68.24%, due to intense public awareness initiatives and the simplified process for lodging of complaints under RB-IOS. Of these, 2,34,690 complaints were handled by the ORBIOs and 4,68,854 complaints were disposed at the CRPC. It was observed that the number of complaints dealt at the ORBIOs declined from 3,04,496 complaints in 2021-22 to 2,34,690 complaints in 2022-23 as structural changes in the Ombudsman framework under RB-IOS, 2021 led to filtering out of non-maintainable complaints by both, the CRPC and the Complaint Management System (CMS) portal.

1.4 The details relating to the total number of complaints received under the erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes and RB-IOS, 2021 during the past three years are provided in Table 1.1 below:

Table 1.1: Total receipt of complaints under the Ombudsman framework
Scheme 2020-21 (Apr-Mar) 2021-22 (Apr-Mar) 2022-23 (Apr-Mar)
  Number Share (%) Number Share (%) Number Share (%)
BOS 3,41,747 89.39 2,09,196 50.02 - -
OSNBFC 36,951 9.67 20,439 4.89 - -
OSDT 3,594 0.94 2,281 0.54 - -
RB-IOS -   72,580 17.35 2,34,690 33.36%
Sub Total 3,82,292 100.00 3,04,496 72.81 2,34,690 33.36%
CRPC1 -   113,688 27.19% 4,68,8542 66.64%
Total 3,82,292 100.00% 4,18,184 100.00% 7,03,544 100.00%
% Change 15.7%   9.39%   68.24%  

Ombudsman Office wise allocation of complaints

1.5 RB-IOS, 2021 has done away with the territorial jurisdiction of the ORBIOs and thereby, complaints from any region can be processed at any ORBIO. Under the ‘One Nation One Ombudsman’ approach, a pre-defined algorithm embedded in the CMS portal allocates complaints to all the ORBIOs in an equitable manner3, which can be observed in Table 1.2 below.

Table 1.2: Office-wise allocation of complaints at the ORBIOs
ORBIO 2020-21#
(Apr-Mar)
2021-22$
(Apr-Mar)
2022-23 (Apr-Mar) &
Volume Share
Ahmedabad 21,078 16,426 11,467 4.89%
Bengaluru 17,407 13,996 10,996 4.68%
Bhopal 15,787 12,841 10,364 4.42%
Bhubaneswar 6,920 7,806 10,728 4.57%
Chandigarh 36,619 20,270 11,177 4.76%
Chennai 27,446 21,396 11,613 4.95%
Dehradun 7,970 8,342 10,462 4.46%
Guwahati 3,543 5,444 8,753 3.73%
Hyderabad 22,161 15,212 10,713 4.56%
Jaipur 22,094 18,145 10,639 4.53%
Jammu 1,767 4,300 10,068 4.29%
Kanpur 26,499 24,214 10,259 4.37%
Kolkata 17,160 14,766 11,455 4.88%
Mumbai I 22,479 18,806 11,847 5.05%
Mumbai II 30,999 20,672 12,313 5.25%
New Delhi I 23,238 15,310 11,234 4.79%
New Delhi II 34,673 24,259 8,921 3.80%
New Delhi III 11,091 8,883 8,474 3.61%
Patna 17,456 13,606 10,675 4.55%
Raipur 4,018 5,362 10,660 4.54%
Ranchi 4,765 6,307 10,495 4.47%
Thiruvananthapuram 7,122 8,133 11,377 4.85%
TOTAL 3,82,292 3,04,496 2,34,690  
# Data pertains to complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC and OSDT.
$ Data pertains to complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC, OSDT and RB-IOS, 2021.
& Data pertains to complaints received during the year under RB-IOS, 2021.
Note: The data for the three years is not strictly comparable as the complaints received from November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 and FY 2022-23 exclude the complaints handled at CRPC.

Geographic dispersion of complaints across the states

1.6 The geographic dispersion of complaints received against banks at the ORBIOs under RB-IOS, 2021 during the year across the states in the country, vis-à-vis the total number of accounts held (deposit and credit) by the customers with Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCB) in the respective states is depicted in the map (Chart 1.1) below. The figure presented is based on complaints received per lakh accounts held in the SCBs of the respective States / Union Territories (UTs), as on March 31, 2023.

Chart 1.1: Geographic dispersion of complaints received per lakh accounts

1.7 It is observed that the States / UTs of Chandigarh, NCT of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat were the top five contributors to Ombudsman complaints, while the States of Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh were the lowest contributors during the year.

Mode of receipt of complaints at ORBIOs

1.8 Complaints can be received at the ORBIOs either through CMS portal or CRPC. After preliminary scrutiny, CRPC assigns the actionable complaints received through email, physical mode and CPGRAMS (the GoI portal for receipt and monitoring of complaints from the public) to the ORBIOs. A total of 85.64% of the complaints received at the ORBIOs were lodged through digital mode using CMS Portal / email / CPGRAMS portal. A breakup on complaints received through the different modes of receipt in the past three years is provided in Appendix 1.1 and depicted in Chart 1.2.

Chart 1.2: Mode of receipt of complaints for the past three years

Population group-wise receipt of complaints at ORBIOs

1.9 In 2022-23, majority of complaints at the ORBIOs were received from Metropolitan Centres (45.77%), followed by Urban (24%) and Semi Urban Centres (18.46%). The complaints reflect a proportionate rise with the size of population and bank branches. The share of complaints from Urban, Semi Urban and Rural areas saw a decent uptick during the year. The population group-wise receipt of complaints under the Ombudsman framework for the past three years is depicted in Chart 1.3.

Chart 1.3: Population group-wise receipt ofcomplaints at ORBIOs

Complainant type-wise receipt of complaints

1.10 Despite drop in the absolute number of complaints from individuals as compared to the previous year, the same constituted 85.92% of total complaints received at the ORBIOs. Notably, complaints lodged by senior citizens declined to 2.16% of total complaints as compared to 3.04% in the previous year. The complainant type-wise receipt of complaints at the ORBIOs during the past three years is provided in Table 1.3.

Table 1.3: Complainant type-wise receipt of complaints at the ORBIOs
Complainant type 2020-21 #
(Apr-Mar)
2021-22 $
(Apr-Mar)
2022-23 &
(Apr-Mar)
Individual 3,05,093 2,43,244 2,01,646
79.81% 79.88% 85.92%
Individual – Business 13,614 10,400 5,252
3.56% 3.42% 2.24%
Proprietorship / Partnership 7,505 6,712 3,869
1.96% 2.20% 1.65%
Limited Company 8,381 7,427 6,501
2.19% 2.44% 2.77%
Trust 665 613 390
0.17% 0.20% 0.17%
Association 372 427 275
0.10% 0.14% 0.12%
Government Department 6,447 4,993 2,387
1.69% 1.64% 1.02%
PSU 1,475 1,799 2,364
0.39% 0.59% 1.01%
Senior Citizen 10,061 9,244 5,081
2.63% 3.04% 2.16%
Others 28,679 19,637 6,925
7.50% 6.45% 2.94%
Total4 3,82,292 3,04,496 2,34,690
# Data pertains to complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC and OSDT.
$ Data pertains to complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC, OSDT and RB-IOS, 2021.
& Data pertains to complaints received during the year under RB-IOS, 2021.
Note: The data for the three years is not strictly comparable as the complaints received from November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 and FY 2022-23 exclude the complaints handled at CRPC.

Regulated Entity type-wise receipt of complaints

1.11 Regulated Entity-type wise receipt of complaints for the past three years under the Ombudsman framework is provided in Table 1.4.

Table 1.4: Regulated Entity type-wise receipt of complaints at the ORBIOs
Entity type 2020-21 #
(Apr-Mar)
2021-22 $
(Apr-Mar)
2022-23 &
(Apr-Mar)
Public Sector Banks 1,74,974 1,54,725 1,02,144
45.77% 50.81% 43.52%
Private Sector Banks 1,26,303 94,275 73,764
33.04% 30.96% 31.43%
Payments and Small Finance Banks 6,918 8,076 7,888
1.81% 2.65% 3.36%
Foreign Banks 6,157 4,464 5,639
1.61% 1.47% 2.40%
RRBs/ Urban Co-op. Banks 6,382 6,508 7,200
1.67% 2.14% 3.07%
NBFC 31,158 22,317 33,072
8.15% 7.33% 14.09%
PPI/BBPOU 3,168 3,040 3,456
0.83% 1.00% 1.47%
Credit Information Companies5 - - 1,039
- - 0.44%
Others 27,232 11,091 488
7.12% 3.64% 0.22%
Total 3,82,292 3,04,496 2,34,690
# Data pertains to complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC and OSDT
$ Data pertains to complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC, OSDT and RB-IOS, 2021
& Data pertains to complaints received during the year under RB-IOS, 2021.
Note: The data for the three years is not strictly comparable as the complaints received from November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 and FY 2022-23 exclude the complaints handled at CRPC.

1.12 Complaints against banks formed the largest portion (1,96,635 complaints), accounting for 83.78% of complaints received by the ORBIOs. The categories of complaints against each entity type, compared to previous years are furnished in Table 1.5.

Table 1.5: Category wise receipt of complaints at ORBIOs
Nature of Complaints 2020-21 #
(Apr-Mar)
2021-22 $
(Apr-Mar)
2022-23 &
(Apr-Mar)
Complaints against banks
Mobile / electronic banking 44,385 39,388 39,855
12.99% 14.69% 20.27%
Loans and advances 20,218 24,507 39,579
5.92% 9.14% 20.13%
Deposit Accounts related 8,580 16,388 33,612
2.51% 6.11% 17.09%
ATM / Debit Cards 60,203 41,375 28,635
17.62% 15.43% 14.56%
Credit Cards 40,721 32,162 24,549
11.92% 12.00% 12.48%
Pension payments 4,966 6,179 4,377
1.45% 2.30% 2.23%
Remittances 3,394 3,235 2,937
0.99% 1.21% 1.49%
Para banking 1,236 1,480 2,476
0.36% 0.55% 1.26%
Notes and Coins 332 296 505
0.10% 0.11% 0.26%
Others 157,712 103,075 20,110
46.15% 38.45% 10.23%
Total (Banks) 3,41,747 2,68,085 1,96,635
Complaints against NBFCs
Loans & Advances related / Non-adherence to FPC 17,915 18,729 18,657
48.48% 56.22% 56.41%
Others 19,036 14,585 14,415
51.52% 43.78% 43.59%
Total (NBFCs) 36,951 33,314 33,072
Complaints against PSOs/PSPs
Mobile/Electronic Fund Transfers / Mobile/Electronic Banking 2,599 2,160 2,246
72.31% 69.74% 64.99%
Others 995 937 1,210
27.69% 30.26% 35.01%
Total (PSOs/PSPs) 3,594 3,097 3,456
Complaints against Credit Information Companies
Loans and advances - - 754
- - 72.57%
Credit Cards - - 63
- - 6.06%
Others - - 222
- - 21.37%
Total (CICs) - - 1,039
# Data pertains to complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC and OSDT
$ Data pertains to complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC, OSDT and RB-IOS, 2021
& Data pertains to complaints received during the year under RB-IOS, 2021.
Note: The data for the three years is not strictly comparable as the complaints received from November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 and FY 2022-23 exclude the complaints handled at CRPC.

Disposal of complaints

1.13 The ORBIOs maintained a healthy disposal rate of 97.99% during the year. Further, there was a significant decline in the number of complaints pending beyond 30 days, from 0.26% as on March 31, 2022 to 0.04% as on March 31, 2023.

1.14 The position of disposal of complaints at the ORBIOs for the past three years, along with their age-wise pending position as at the end of respective years is given in Table 1.6.

Table 1.6: Disposal and Pendency position at the ORBIOs
Number of Complaints 2020-21 #
(Jul-Mar)
2021-22 $
(Apr-Mar)
2022-23 &
(Apr-Mar)
Received during the year 3,03,107 3,04,496 2,34,690
Brought forward from previous year 25,636 11,429 6,447
Complaints received by Email / from CEPCs before the start of the year but registered / assigned to ORBIOs on or after start of the year 6,302 1,589 4,254
Handled during the year 3,35,045 3,17,514 2,45,391
Disposed during the year 3,23,616 3,11,067 2,40,453
Rate of Disposal (%) 96.59% 97.97% 97.99%
Carried forward to the next year 11,429 6,447 4,938
Complaints pending for less than one month (30 days) 7,220 5,622 4,829
2.15% 1.77% 1.97%
Complaints pending for one to two months 2,232 582 92
0.67% 0.18% 0.04%
Complaints pending for two to three months 948 86 9
0.28% 0.03% 0.00%
Complaints pending for more than three months 1,029 157 8
0.31% 0.05% 0.00%
# Data pertains to overall complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC and OSDT
$ Data pertains to overall complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC, OSDT and RB-IOS, 2021
& Data pertains to complaints received during the year under RB-IOS, 2021.
Note: The data for the three years is not strictly comparable as the complaints received from November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 and FY 2022-23 exclude the complaints handled at CRPC. All pending complaints from FY 2022-23 have since been disposed.

Mode of disposal of maintainable complaints

1.15 The maintainable complaints disposed by ORBIOs stood at 1,72,568 consisting 71.77% of the total complaints disposed by ORBIOs. The RB-IOS, 2021 envisages settlement of complaints by agreement through conciliation and / or mediation and thereby, majority of the maintainable complaints were resolved through mutual settlement / agreement. If the parties fail to arrive at an acceptable resolution of the complaint, the RBIO gives a decision, which includes passing the Award. The mode of disposal of maintainable complaints for the past three years is provided in Table 1.7 below:

Table 1.7: Mode of disposal of maintainable complaints by ORBIOs
Disposal of maintainable complaints 2020-21 #
(Jul-Mar)
2021-22 $
(Apr-Mar)
2022-23 &
(Apr-Mar)
By Mutual Settlement/ Agreement 1,34,504 1,11,820 99,184
72.67% 63.63% 57.48%
Disposal by Award 65 33 38
0.04% 0.02% 0.02%
Maintainable Complaints Rejected 50,326 62,936 70,729
27.19% 35.81% 40.99%
Maintainable Complaints Withdrawn 197 952 2,617
0.11% 0.54% 1.51%
Total 1,85,092 1,75,741 1,72,568
# Data pertains to overall complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC and OSDT
$ Data pertains to overall complaints received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC, OSDT and RB-IOS, 2021
& Data pertains to complaints received during the year under RB-IOS, 2021.
Note: The data for the three years is not strictly comparable as the complaints received from November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 and FY 2022-23 exclude the complaints handled at CRPC.

Reasons for closure of complaints under non-maintainable clauses

1.16 67,885 complaints were closed as non-maintainable, largely due to (i) complaints having been already dealt at ORBIOs, (ii) First Resort Complaints (FRCs), and (iii) complaints not being represented properly. FRCs are those complaints which are received at the ORBIOs without the complainant having approached the concerned RE first. These complaints are sent to the concerned RE for redress at their end. The complainants are advised through closure letters that they could lodge the complaint again under RB-IOS, 2021, in case no reply is received from RE within 30 days or the reply received from RE is not satisfactory.

1.17 The reasons for closure of the complaints at the ORBIOs as non-maintainable complaints is depicted in the Chart 1.4.

Chart 1.4: Reasons for non-maintainable complaints

Receipt of Appeals

1.18 The RB-IOS, 2021 provides for an appellate mechanism for the complainant as well as the RE for complaints closed under appealable clauses of the Scheme. The Executive Director-in-Charge of CEPD has been designated as the Appellate Authority for such appeal cases.

1.19 The complainant aggrieved by the Award under Clause 15 (1) or rejection of a complaint under any of the Clauses 16(2) (c) to 16 (2)(f) of the Scheme, can file their appeal before the Appellate Authority in Reserve Bank, within 30 days of the date of receipt of the Award or rejection of the complaint. The REs aggrieved by the Award under Clause 15 (1)(b) or closure of complaint under any of the Clauses 16(2) (c) to 16 (2) (f) of the Scheme, can file their appeal within 30 days from the date of receipt of communication of Award or closure of the complaint. The receipt of appeals cases under the erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes and the RB-IOS, 2021 during the past three years is provided in Table 1.8.

Table 1.8: Receipt and disposal of Appeals under the Ombudsman Schemes for past three years
Particulars 2020-21#
(Jul-Mar)
2021-22$
(Apr-Mar)
2022-23
(Apr-Mar)
Break-up of 2022-23
BOS OS-NBFC RB-IOS
Appeals pending at the beginning of the year 48 45 62 25 8 29
Appeals received during the year from complainants 14 80 118 2 0 116
Appeals received during the year from REs 10 12 4 0 1 3
Total appeals handled during the year 72 137 184 27 9 148
Appeal disposed during the year 27 75 103 27 9 67
Pending at the end of the year 45 62 81 0 0 81
Mode of Disposal
Appeals remanded to the RBIO 2 1 0 0 0 0
Appeals withdrawn / settled / infructuous 5 14 24 0 1 23
Appeals rejected 10 33 54 24 3 27
Appeals allowed 10 27 25 3 5 17
Appeals Disposed
i. In favour of appellants 11 20 24 6 1 17
ii. In favour of REs 5 22 13 4 3 6
iii. Neither in favour of appellants nor in favour of REs (Remanded back to RBIO / infructuous) 11 33 66 17 5 44
# Data pertains to overall appeals received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC and OSDT.
$ Data pertains to overall appeals received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC, OSDT and RB-IOS, 2021.

1.20 The Office wise receipt of appeals during 2022-23 is given in the Appendix 1.2.

Cost of handling a complaint

1.21 For the year 2022-23, the average cost of handling a complaint at the ORBIOs reduced to ₹2,041 per complaint from ₹2,895 per complaint during 2021-22. This reduction in average cost per complaint can be attributed to increased receipt of complaints on account of simplified procedure for lodging of complaints. The office wise cost of handling complaints has been provided at Appendix 1.3.

Turn Around Time (TAT) for disposal of complaints

1.22 The average TAT for disposal of complaints at the ORBIOs has improved continuously from 95 days in 2019-20 to 33 days 2022-23. This decline is in consonance with the enhanced efficiencies brought about in the system on the back of the process re-engineering and structural changes introduced under the RB-IOS, 2021. Focused efforts are being made to further optimize the TAT while ensuring quality disposal.

1.23 The average TAT for disposal of complaints under the erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes and the RB-IOS, 2021 is depicted in the Chart 1.5.

Chart 1.5: Total volume of disposed complaints along with their TAT

Bank group-wise complaint conversion ratio

1.24 The complaint conversion ratio represents the proportion of complaints received against the concerned bank group at the ORBIOs vis-à-vis the total number of complaints received at the respective bank group from their customers. As seen from the Chart 1.6 given below, all bank groups have improved on the conversion rates except Small Finance Banks.

Chart 1.6: Complaint Conversion Ratio

Chapter 2
Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre

The Reserve Bank set up a Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre (CRPC) at Chandigarh, along with the roll out of RB-IOS 2021 in November 2021 with an objective to make the RBI Alternate Grievance Redress (AGR) mechanism simpler, easier and more approachable for the customers of its Regulated Entities (REs). CRPC serves as a focal point for receipt of all physical and email complaints lodged by the complainants against the REs, in any language, for digitalizing and initial processing in the Complaint Management System (CMS) portal. While the maintainable complaints are assigned to the Offices of Reserve Bank of India Ombudsmen (ORBIOs) and the REs, the non-maintainable complaints are closed by the CRPC.

The CRPC also houses a Contact Centre with toll free facility #14448 for providing information to customers on RB-IOS 2021, complaint lodging mechanism, status of complaints already lodged with the Reserve Bank as well as imparting education relating to the do’s and don’ts for safeguarding themselves against digital and electronic transaction frauds. The Contact Centre facility is available through the Reserve Bank staff on all working days from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm in Hindi and English and 9:30 am to 5:15 pm in 10 regional languages and 24x7x365 through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) facility.

Since its launch in November 2021, in addition to the CMS portal, the CRPC has turned into an important pillar of the AGR mechanism instituted by the Reserve Bank and emerged as a leading channel for lodging complaints by the customers of the REs for expeditious resolution.

2.1 The Reserve Bank - Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2021 (RB-IOS, 2021) launched in November 2021 envisaged filing of complaints through three channels, viz., online, email and physical mode. Accordingly, the Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre (CRPC) was established at Reserve Bank of India, Chandigarh, as a focal point for receipt and processing of email and postal complaints, in any language. Along with the CRPC, a Contact Centre also started functioning to provide information / clarifications to the public regarding the AGR mechanism of RBI, guide complainants in filing of complaints, as well as for obtaining the status of complaints already filed with the Reserve Bank, in Hindi, English and ten regional languages.

Receipt and disposal of complaints at CRPC

2.2 During the year 2022-23, the number of complaints received at the CRPC witnessed a steady increase reflecting the growing awareness among public about the AGR mechanism of the Reserve Bank. A total of 5,95,371 complaints were handled at the CRPC during the year, out of which 5,94,787 were disposed as on March 31, 2023. With improved efficiency, the pendency at CRPC declined significantly and the disposal rate improved remarkably to 99.90% during 2022-23 from 96.07% during 2021-22 (since launch of CRPC in November 2021). The disposal and pendency position at the CRPC is provided in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1: Receipt, Disposal and Pendency position at the CRPC
Particulars November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
Received during the period (A) 1,49,419 5,89,504
Brought forward from previous year (B) - 5,867
Handled during the period (A+B) 1,49,419 5,95,371
Disposed during the period (C) 1,43,552 5,94,787
Rate of Disposal at CRPC (C/A+B) 96.07% 99.90%
Carried forward to the next year (A+B-C) 5,867 584
Note: 584 complaints have since been disposed.

2.3 A total of 5,89,504 fresh complaints were received at the CRPC during the year. Of these, 4,68,270 complaints were closed at the CRPC as non-complaints / non-maintainable complaints, while 1,20,650 complaints were assigned to ORBIOs and CEPCs for further redress. The details are provided in Appendix 2.1 and Chart 2.1.

Chart 2.1: Complaints received at the CRPC (April 2022 - March 2023)

2.4 As regards 5,867 complaints, which were brought forward from the last year 2021-22, 4,533 complaints were closed at the CRPC as non-complaints / non-maintainable complaints. The remaining 1,334 complaints were assigned to the ORBIOs and the CEPCs for redress during the year 2022-23.

2.5 Month-wise receipt of complaints at the CRPC during 2022-2023 is given in Appendix 2.2 and depicted in Chart 2.2.

Chart 2.2: Number of complaints received at the CRPC

Mode of receipt of complaints at CRPC

2.6 Complaints are received at CRPC either through e-mail, physical letter or Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS). The break-up of complaints received at the CRPC through different modes during the year 2022-23 is depicted in Chart 2.3.

Chart 2.3: Mode of receipt of complaints atCRPC (April 2022 - March 2023)

A comparative position of various modes through which complaints were received at the CRPC since its inception is given in Appendix 2.3.

Reasons for closure of complaints at CRPC

2.7 The reasons for closure of 4,68,270 complaints at the CRPC as non-complaints/ non-maintainable complaints is depicted in Chart 2.4.

2.8 Out of 4,68,270 complaints closed at the CRPC, 47.46% complaints were closed as First Resort Complaints whereas 22.65% complaints were closed on account of being addressed to other authorities. The average Turn Around Time for closure of complaints at the CRPC improved significantly, which stood at 4 days during the year 2022-23 as against 12 days during the year 2021-22.

Chart 2.4: Reason for closure of complaints at CRPC

Calls received at the Contact Centre

2.9 The CRPC at Chandigarh also houses a Contact Centre (CC) with toll free facility #14448 for providing information to customers on RB-IOS 2021 and complaint lodging mechanism, status of complaints already lodged with the Reserve Bank as well as imparting education relating to the do’s and don’ts for safeguarding themselves against digital and electronic transaction frauds. The CC is available through the Reserve Bank staff on all working days from 8.00 am to 10.00 pm in Hindi and English and 9.30 am to 5.15 pm in ten6 regional languages and 24x7x365 through the IVRS facility.

2.10 During the year 2022-23, 8,18,958 calls were received at the CC, of which 33.59% calls were received in November 2022 during the NIAP. The impact of NIAP was also observed in subsequent months, as 74.16% of the calls were received during November 2022 to March 2023. The month-wise call distribution at the CC during the year 2022-23 is presented in Chart 2.5.

Chart 2.5: Total Calls received at Contact Centre (April 1, 2022 - March 31, 2023)

Handling of calls at CC

2.11 Of the 8,18,958 calls received during the year 2022-23, 66.27% of the calls were attended through the IVRS facility, 23.16% of the calls were attended directly by the Reserve Bank staff at the CC and 10.57% of calls were abandoned. The details of the calls handled at the CC are provided in Table 2.2.

Table 2.2: Call Data at Contact Centre (April 2022 - March 2023)
Details Number of calls
Calls attended through IVRS (A) 5,42,702
(66.27%)
Calls attended by the RBI Staff (B) 1,89,690
(23.16%)
Calls abandoned7 (C) 86,566
(10.57%)
Total Calls received (A+B+C) 8,18,958

Language-wise receipt of calls

2.12 A total of 2,76,256 calls (including abandoned calls) were received in various languages at the CC during the year 2022-23. It was observed that 71.51% of calls were received in Hindi, 19.63% calls were received in regional languages and 8.86% of calls were received in English. The month-wise trend in receipt of calls at the CC in Hindi, English and regional languages is depicted in Chart 2.6.

Chart 2.6: Language-wise calls at Contact Centre

2.13 Among the ten regional languages, the highest number of calls were received in Tamil (29.22%) followed by Telugu (22.10%), Malayalam (10.31%), Kannada (10.26%) and Bengali (9.80%). The breakup of calls received in ten regional languages during 2022-23 is depicted in Chart 2.7.

Chart 2.7: Calls received in Regional Languages

Broad-basing and Upgrade of the Reserve Bank Contact Centre

2.14 The CC, set up in RBI, Chandigarh, began its operations in November 2021. At the time of launch, the CC timings for interaction with the Reserve Bank staff was 9:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. (7 hours and 45 minutes) in Hindi, English as well as the eight regional languages (Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Tamil and Telugu), while the IVRS facility was available on 24×7×365 basis. With effect from November 7, 2022, the timings of CC for interaction with the staff in Hindi and English was extended to 8.00 A.M. to 10.00 P.M. (14 hours) on all weekdays except national holidays. Punjabi and Assamese8 were also added to the menu of the regional languages.

2.15 In view of the surge in the number of calls at the CC and to develop Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery capabilities, the project for development of State-of-the-Art CC at two more locations viz., Bhubaneshwar and Kochi is underway. CC would be staffed as per a hybrid model where the operations will be handled by an outsourced agency, under the overall supervision of the Reserve Bank. The evolution of CC since inception is depicted in Chart 2.8.

Chart 2.8: Contact Centre – Journey so far

Chapter 3
Complaints received through Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) and applications under Right to Information Act, 2005

During the year, 8,453 complaints were received through CPGRAMS and 1,372 applications were received under the RTI Act, 2005 in the 22 RBIO offices and the Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre (CRPC), which were replied to.

Complaints received through Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS)

3.1 CPGRAMS is a mechanism to receive and address consumer complaints regarding different products and schemes offered by the Government of India or its agencies. The CPGRAMS portal has been developed by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances of Government of India. Government departments and banks are subordinate offices in this portal. CEPD is the Nodal Office for the Reserve Bank, and the ORBIOs, inter-alia, are its subordinate offices.

3.2 During the year, 8,453 CPGRAMS complaints were received by the 22 Ombudsman offices of RBI. A comparative position of the complaints received through this portal and handled by the ORBIOs during the last three years is given at Appendix 3.1.

Applications received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005

3.3 The RBI Ombudsmen are the Central Public Information Officers under the RTI Act, 2005 to receive applications and furnish information related to complaints handled by the ORBIOs. During the year, 1,372 RTI applications were received by all the ORBIOs and CRPC. The office-wise position of such applications received during the last three years is detailed at Appendix 3.2.


Chapter 4
Other Developments

RBI continued its endeavours towards spreading awareness on customer rights, consumer protection, grievance redress mechanism and prevention of financial frauds with greater fervour and intensity, through a wide range of innovative strategies during the year 2022-23. The Nationwide Intensive Awareness Programme and Ombudsman Speak event on ‘World Consumer Rights Day’ during the months of November 2022 and March 2023, respectively, were conducted under the aegis of the Pan India Intensive Awareness Campaign by employing diverse strategies to reach out to the most isolated segments of population and remotest locations of the country to create awareness on the nuances of the Customer Protection as well as the Alternate Grievance Redress (AGR) facilities laid out by the Reserve Bank, including with RB-IOS, 2021, and to raise public awareness on the modus operandi of digital frauds. A booklet, namely, ‘Raju and the Forty Thieves’ was released in multiple languages to provide glimpses of fraudulent financial incidents to the customers for safeguarding themselves from retail transaction frauds.

The year also witnessed a series of policy initiatives to strengthen the customer protection framework and facilitate better customer services across the Regulated Entities (REs). A Committee, under the Chairmanship of Shri B.P. Kanungo, former Deputy Governor, RBI, was constituted to examine and review the standards of customer service in the REs, assess adequacy of customer service regulation and suggest measures for improving the same. As part of the AGR mechanism, Credit Information Companies were brought under the ambit of the RB-IOS, 2021 for raising grievances. The Internal Ombudsman Scheme was further extended to the Credit Information Companies.

On the global front, G20 / OECD reviewed and updated the High-Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection to include two new Principles, i.e., ‘Access and Inclusion’ and ‘Quality Financial Products’, with a view to provide holistic approach for financial consumer protection across jurisdictions.

Widening the coverage of the RB-IOS, 2021 by inclusion of Credit Information Companies

4.1 In order to make the RB-IOS, 2021 more broad based, the Credit Information Companies (CICs) were brought under RB-IOS, 2021 with effect from September 1, 2022 for raising grievances against CICs if the complaints are not resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant or not replied within a period of 30 days by CICs. This provides an avenue for cost free AGR to customers of REs for grievances against CICs.

Rolling out the Internal Ombudsman Scheme for Credit Information Companies

4.2 Reserve Bank of India had mandated implementation of the Internal Ombudsman mechanism for banks in 2018, Non-Bank Payment System Participants in 2019 and select NBFCs in 2021. The Internal Ombudsman mechanism serves as an apex level review mechanism for disposal of complaints which are partially or wholly rejected, with a view to strengthen the internal customer grievance redressal structure at the REs. In October 2022, the Internal Ombudsman mechanism was also extended to the Credit Information Companies (CICs) as a step towards strengthening the internal grievance redressal system of CICs. All CICs holding a Certificate of Registration under sub-section (2) of Section 5 of the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005, were directed to comply with the Reserve Bank (Credit Information Companies - Internal Ombudsman) Directions, 2022 by April 1, 2023. The direction, inter alia, covers the appointment/tenure, role and responsibilities, procedural guidelines, and oversight mechanism for the Internal Ombudsman. All complaints that are partly or wholly rejected by the CICs will be reviewed by the Internal Ombudsman before the final decision of the CIC is conveyed to the complainant.

Committee for Review of Customer Service Standards in RBI Regulated Entities

4.3 Considering the rapid transformation in the financial landscape consequent to the rising customer base of the banks, the number of service providers, advent of new technology and digital products, as also keeping in view the increase in volume of digital transactions emerging from innovations in payment systems, it was announced in the bi-monthly Monetary Policy Review Statement on April 08, 2022 to set up a Committee to examine and review the standards of customer service in the REs, assess adequacy of customer service regulation and suggest measures for improving the same. Accordingly, the Committee under chairmanship of Shri B P Kanungo, former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India was constituted on May 23, 2022. The Committee has since submitted its report to RBI, suggesting measures for strengthening customer service regulation, improving customer service in REs and leveraging technology for better customer service delivery and fraud prevention. The report of the Committee was uploaded on the Reserve Bank website on June 05, 2023 inviting comments and feedback from the stakeholders and members of the public by July 7, 2023. The recommendations of the committee are under examination and will be considered for implementation after taking into consideration, the suggestions and feedback received.

G20 High-Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection9

4.4 In 2022, the G20 High-Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection, which were first released in 2011, were reviewed and updated. The update was undertaken by the G20/OECD Task Force on Financial Consumer Protection, in collaboration with the Global Partnership on Financial Inclusion. The updated Principles were endorsed by G20 Leaders at the Bali Summit on November 15-16, 2022 and adopted by OECD Governments on December 12, 2022. The major change to the Principles were inclusion of two new Principles, viz., ‘Access and Inclusion’ and ‘Quality Financial Products’, with a view to ensuring a holistic approach to financial consumer protection. Further, three new cross-cutting themes namely ‘Digitalisation’, ‘Financial Well-being’ and ‘Sustainable Finance’ were enumerated, which are relevant to the consideration and implementation of each of the Principles. These Principles are the leading international standard for effective and comprehensive financial consumer protection frameworks.

G20/OECD High-Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection

Pan India Intensive Awareness Campaign

4.5 RBI launched a Pan India Awareness Campaign during the year 2022-2023 to ensure deeper percolation of the financial consumer awareness on safe banking practices, RBI’s AGR mechanism and extant regulations for protection of consumer interests. The campaign was run as a multi-phased, multi-pronged financial awareness campaign in the wake of the “Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav” and covered three phases, viz., i) the Ombudsman Speak events, ii) Talkathon by Top Management and iii) a month long Nationwide Intensive Awareness Programme (NIAP). The objective of the campaign was to reach the hitherto excluded/ isolated sections of populations and remotest areas in the country, especially in the Tier-III and IV cities, rural areas, etc.

4.6 The NIAP encompassed month long awareness events from November 1 to 30, 2022 in collaboration with the REs to leverage on their extensive reach across the nooks and corners of the country. During the campaign awareness messages were broadcast through print, multimedia channels, RBI website, ‘RBI-says’, interactive voice response system and ‘RBI Kehta Hai’, etc., in addition to various physical interactions / interface programmes with the common public. Majority of the campaigns were carried out in regional / local languages using channels with local outreach. Several innovative strategies along with regular public awareness campaigns were deployed to reach out to the public, a few of which included, folk arts, nukkad nataks, puppet shows, skits, magic shows, street plays, sports competitions, flash mobs, rallies, half-marathons, cyclethon, formation of human chains, crosswords, etc.

4.7 During the NIAP campaign, approx. 1.63 lakh programmes were carried out, of which around 1.28 lakh programmes were carried out in physical mode. Approximately three crore persons participated physically in these programmes and the online channel reached out to near-about 25 crore people. Special drives were conducted for vulnerable sections of the population and around 16,000 differently abled and over 82,000 senior citizens participated in these activities. Focused drives were organised for around 22,000 recovery agents on fair practices and extant guidelines on loan recovery.

4.8 Further, Talkathon / Media Interaction by Senior Management of RBI on August 29, 2022 at New Delhi Office was held to generate awareness on AGR framework of RBI, inter alia, covering salient features of RB-IOS, 2021, procedure to lodge complaint, Do’s and Don’ts for filing a complaint, different modes of resolution of complaints, etc.

4.9 The second edition of ‘Ombudsman Speak’ event on March 15, 2023 on the occasion of ‘World Consumer Rights Day’ was conducted during India’s ongoing presidency of G20. The 22 RBI Ombudsmen across the country interacted with the local / regional multimedia channels in their respective regions and employed diverse strategies for spreading awareness in regional languages for vulnerable sections, such as senior citizens, women, members of Self-Employed Women’s Organization, differently abled citizens, members of merchant associations, etc.

4.10 In addition, 238 awareness programmes and 48 town-hall meetings were conducted through the ORBIOs and CEPCs with focus on specific groups such as servicemen, school / college students, consumer groups, etc. A list of the awareness programmes conducted is provided in the Appendix 4.1.

4.11 A booklet, namely, ‘Raju and the Forty Thieves’ in Hindi and English was released to provide glimpses of the modus operandi in fraudulent financial events and simple tips about Do’s and Don’ts as safeguards against such incidents. The booklet is also available in multiple regional languages such as Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Kannada, Oriya, Malayalam, Gujrati, Bengali, Telugu, Assamese, and Urdu, and on the RBI website.

Review of the framework for Strengthening of Grievance Redress Mechanism in banks

4.12 Reserve Bank had rolled out the ‘Framework for Strengthening the Grievance Redress mechanism in banks’ in January 2021, comprising enhanced disclosure requirements on complaints, recovery of cost of redress of complaints from outlier banks, intensive review of banks’ internal grievance redress mechanism and supervisory actions against banks having persistent issues in their grievance redress mechanism. For the year 2022-23, recoveries to the tune of ₹5.9 crore shall be made from 32 banks.

4.13 The Reserve Bank has reviewed the existing framework on the basis of feedback received from the REs as well as the experience gained in implementing the framework since January 2021. Based on the outcomes, further enhancement to the mechanism is being examined.

Opening / reorganisation of ORBIOs

4.14 All Ombudsman offices operate under the overarching ';One Nation One Ombudsman'; principle. In 2022-23, the Reserve Bank reviewed the geographic presence of the Offices of RBI Ombudsman (ORBIOs) in an attempt to spread them across the country and also make them available in different regions keeping in view the volume of origination of complaints. Accordingly, a new ORBIO was operationalized at Shimla with effect from April 01, 2023. The opening of the new ORBIO at Shimla shall also give a fillip to the focused awareness activities in the distant regions of Himachal Pradesh. Further, considering the higher volume of complaints received from the states of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, additional ORBIOs have been operationalized at Chennai and Kolkata with effect from April 17, 2023 and June 01, 2023, respectively. ORBIO, New Delhi I and ORBIO, New Delhi III were merged into single office i.e. ORBIO, New Delhi I.

Digitalisation of data compiled through incognito visits

4.15 Incognito Visits play an important role in assessing compliance to regulatory guidelines on customer service aspects at field level and as an effective tool of supervision for protection of consumers through appropriate action against poor customer service by the REs. The Regional Offices of RBI, conduct Incognito Visits of bank branches on half yearly basis, to assess the level of customer service through a checklist. The checklist for Incognito Visits consists of a questionnaire to assess overall customer service standards in banks, with focused assessment of customer services in specific areas as identified on basis of complaints received. During the year, in order to capture granular details, expedite the compilation of reports submitted, and effective resource utilization at offices, the process was digitalised for enhanced data utility and analysis.

Important regulatory measures relating to Customer Service and Protection taken by RBI

4.16 The most important regulatory measures during the year 2022-23, for improving customer experience of banking services, covered guidelines / instructions relating to establishment of Digital Banking Units to facilitate customers in adopting digital modes / channels and create awareness on digital banking, Interoperable Card-less Cash Withdrawal facility at ATMs through use of Unified Payments Interface, provision of doorstep banking services by financially sound and well managed (FSWM) Primary (Urban) Co-operative banks (UCB) on voluntary basis and non-FSWM UCBs with the approval of RBI, enhancement of per transaction limit for subsequent transactions (without additional factor of Authentication) under the e-mandate framework for recurring transactions from ₹5000/- to ₹15,000/-, revised eligibility criteria for Regional Rural Banks to offer Internet Banking Facility and extension of timeline for renewal of existing agreements for the safe deposit lockers in a phased manner till December 31, 2023.

4.17 Steps were also taken to address issues related to customer protection and grievance redress, which included issuance of guidelines for digital lending to address concerns arising out of unbridled engagement of outsourced agents, specification of permissible hours for calling the borrowers for recovery of overdue loans by the RBI’s regulated entities and their Recovery Agents and restrictions on Storage of Actual Card Data to prevent misuse of card data.

4.18 A chronology of the salient policy initiatives is given in the Appendix 4.2.

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) of major areas of complaints

4.19 The RCA of major grounds of complaints undertaken by the ORBIOs and CEPCs are compiled in CEPD with the objective of identifying and addressing the underlying deficiencies in customer service and initiating actions to address them. The root causes of the complaints also serve as inputs for policy interventions. The major findings from RCAs undertaken during the year are summarized below:

  1. Occurrence of unauthorized / fraudulent digital transactions due to lack of robust fraud prevention mechanisms in REs as well as customers divulging sensitive information.

  2. Inordinate delay in reversal of failed transaction due to lack of daily reconciliation by the REs.

  3. Lack of proper communication from REs / DLAs regarding terms and conditions of the loan such as applicable interest rate, foreclosure and other charges.

  4. Non-availability of adequate and centralised bank-level mechanism for resolution of pension related issues.

  5. Levying charges on non-maintenance of minimum balance in deposit accounts due to gap in the Board approved policy of the bank.

  6. Cross selling / mis-selling of products due to information asymmetry between the customer and the REs.

  7. Inordinate delay in reporting updated credit information to the CICs resulting in wrong credit report.

  8. REs’ failure to sensitize their recovery agents regarding extant regulatory guidelines on the recovery operations.

Way forward

4.20 During the period April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, Consumer Education and Protection Department has identified the following goals, under the Reserve Bank’s medium-term strategy framework (Utkarsh 2.0), for enhancing consumer protection and improving grievance redress mechanisms:

  1. Review, consolidate and update the extant Reserve Bank regulatory guidelines on customer service;

  2. Review and integrate the internal ombudsman schemes, applicable to different RE types;

  3. Establish Reserve Bank Contact Centre at two additional locations for local languages, including disaster recovery and business continuity facility.

4.21 RBI will also explore leveraging Artificial Intelligence in Complaint Management System for better complaint categorisation, decision-making support and better customer experience with a view to strengthening customer protection and improving expediency of grievance redressal.

4.22 Further, the recommendations of the Committee for Review of Customer Service Standards in RBI Regulated Entities will be pursued for enriching the experience of customers and quality customer service by the Regulated Entities.


APPENDICES

Appendix 1.1: Mode of receipt of complaints at the ORBIOs for the past three years
Mode of receipt 2020-21 # 2021-22 $ 2022-23
Number Share Number Share Number Share
Complaint Portal / Online 2,21,911 58.05% 1,83,887 60.39% 1,31,569 56.06%
Email 1,25,859 32.92% 86,541 28.42% 69,419 29.58%
Physical Letter 34,522 9.03% 34,068 11.19% 33,702 14.36%
TOTAL 3,82,292   3,04,496   2,34,690  
Note: Excludes complaints handled at CRPC during FY 2021-22 and 2022-23
# Data pertains to overall appeals received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC and OSDT
$ Data pertains to overall appeals received during the year under BOS, OSNBFC, OSDT and RB-IOS, 2021

Appendix 1.2: Office-wise receipt of Appeals during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
ORBIO Overall RBIOS BOS OSNBFC
Ahmedabad 3 3    
Bangalore 7 7    
Bhopal 4 4    
Bhubaneswar 10 10    
Chandigarh 1 1    
Chennai 11 11    
Dehradun 3 3    
Guwahati 15 14 1  
Hyderabad 5 5    
Jaipur 3 3    
Jammu 7 7    
Kanpur 6 5 1  
Kolkata 2 2    
Mumbai-I 4 4    
Mumbai-II 4 4    
New Delhi-I 12 12    
New Delhi-II 5 4   1
New Delhi-III 11 11    
Patna 1 1    
Raipur 5 5    
Ranchi 2 2    
Thiruvananthapuram 1 1    
Total 122 119 2 1

Appendix 1.3: Office-wise Cost of handling complaints
ORBIO Average Cost (in ₹) Total Cost (in ₹)
Ahmedabad 8,637 9,90,41,231
Bengaluru 5,336 5,86,78,714
Bhopal 6,685 6,92,85,773
Bhubaneswar 5,067 5,43,63,232
Chandigarh 5,300 5,92,33,060
Chennai 6,245 7,25,18,101
Dehradun 5,386 5,63,50,000
Guwahati 9,153 8,01,18,000
Hyderabad 4,067 4,35,66,781
Jaipur 4,610 4,90,50,696
Jammu 4,965 4,99,87,750
Kanpur 5,561 5,70,45,882
Kolkata 5,188 5,94,23,145
Mumbai-I 5,883 6,97,01,694
Mumbai-II 6,681 8,22,60,322
New Delhi-I 5,485 6,16,15,371
New Delhi-II 6,248 5,57,35,347
New Delhi-III 6,449 5,46,48,020
Patna 5,703 6,08,82,199
Raipur 1,081 1,15,26,054
Ranchi 2,501 2,62,50,100
Thiruvananthapuram 4,573 5,20,27,048
CRPC Cost 247 11,60,13,302
CMS Cost 39 3,62,99,710
Cost of handling a complaint 2,041 143,56,21,531

Appendix 1.4: Mode of disposal of Maintainable Complaints against Scheduled Commercial Banks
Name of the Bank Total Maintainable Complaints disposed during the year 2022-23 Of (2), Complaints resolved through conciliation/ mediation/ issuance of advisories Of (2) Complaints resolved through Awards Of (4), Awards unimplemented within stipulated time (other than appealed)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Public Sector Banks        
STATE BANK OF INDIA 30,011 17,354 3 0
BANK OF BARODA 7,216 4,557 7 0
BANK OF INDIA 4,636 3,200 0 0
BANK OF MAHARASHTRA 1,473 970 1 0
CANARA BANK 5,938 3,719 0 0
CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA 3,393 2,323 2 0
INDIAN BANK 4,044 2,644 0 0
INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK 1,432 804 1 0
PUNJAB AND SIND BANK 401 241 0 0
PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK 9,766 6,282 2 0
UCO BANK 2,042 1,465 2 0
UNION BANK OF INDIA 6,167 3,924 2 0
All Public Sector Banks 76,519 47,483 20 0
 
Private Sector Banks
AXIS BANK LIMITED 10,482 5,640 0 0
BANDHAN BANK LIMITED 490 268 0 0
CSB BANK LIMITED 78 50 0 0
CITY UNION BANK LIMITED 148 82 0 0
DCB BANK LIMITED 268 159 0 0
DHANLAXMI BANK LIMITED 32 16 0 0
FEDERAL BANK LIMITED 1073 581 0 0
HDFC BANK LIMITED 10,187 4,622 2 0
ICICI BANK LIMITED 12,114 6,486 0 0
IDBI BANK LIMITED 1,264 702 0 0
IDFC FIRST BANK LIMITED 3,045 1,939 0 0
INDUSIND BANK LIMITED 3,049 1,508 0 0
JAMMU & KASHMIR BANK LIMITED 364 221 0 0
KARNATAKA BANK LIMITED 353 192 0 0
KARUR VYSYA BANK LIMITED 369 225 0 0
KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK LIMITED 4,921 2,654 0 0
NAINITAL BANK LIMITED 48 30 0 0
RBL BANK LIMITED 2,802 1,660 0 0
SOUTH INDIAN BANK LIMITED 279 117 0 0
TAMILNAD MERCANTILE BANK LIMITED 169 77 0 0
YES BANK LIMITED 1,922 1061 1 0
All Private Sector Banks 53,457 28,290 3 0
 
Payment Banks
AIRTEL PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED 1,070 753 0 0
FINO PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED 147 88 0 0
INDIA POST PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED 188 89 0 0
PAYTM PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED 2,399 1356 0 0
All Payment Banks 3,804 2,286 0 0
 
Small Finance Banks
AU SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 671 307 0 0
CAPITAL SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 21 10 0 0
EQUITAS SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 221 108 0 0
ESAF SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 40 19 0 0
FINCARE SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 92 62 0 0
JANA SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 208 111 0 0
NORTH EAST SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 6 5 0 0
SHIVALIK SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 29 17 0 0
SURYODAY SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 51 33 0 0
UJJIVAN SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 155 82 0 0
UNITY SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 10 5 0 0
UTKARSH SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 71 44 0 0
All Small Finance Banks 1,575 803 0 0
 
Foreign Banks
AB BANK LIMITED - - 0 0
ABU DHABI COMMERCIAL BANK PJSC 1 1 0 0
AMERICAN EXPRESS BANKING CORP. 252 128 0 0
BARCLAYS BANK PLC 11 8 0 0
BANK OF AMERICA NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 7 6 0 0
BNP PARIBAS 2 2 0 0
CITIBANK N.A 1,061 404 0 0
DBS BANK INDIA LIMITED 263 163 5 0
DEUTSCHE BANK AG 71 39 0 0
HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPN. LIMITED 252 140 0 0
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 1 1 0 0
MUFG BANK LIMITED 1 1 0 0
NATWEST MARKETS PLC (ERSTWHILE THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND PLC) 1 1 0 0
SBER BANK 1 1 0 0
SBM BANK (INDIA) LIMITED 796 611 0 0
SHINHAN BANK 1 1 0 0
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK 1,538 914 0 0
WOORI BANK 4 2 0 0
All Foreign Banks 4,263 2,423 5 0
All Regional Rural Banks 3,774 1,777 1 0
All Scheduled Commercial Banks 1,43,392 83,062 29 0
         
Others (Including Co-operative Banks, NBFCs and NB-PSPs) 29,176 16,122 9 0
GRAND TOTAL 1,72,568 99,184 38 0

Appendix 2.1: Receipt of complaints at CRPC
Particulars November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
Complaints received during the period 1,49,419 5,89,504
Out of above, complaints which were:
(a) Assigned to ORBIOs 32,551 1,11,574
(b) Assigned to CEPCs 3,180 9,076
(c) Closed at CRPC as non-complaint / non-maintainable complaints 1,07,821 4,68,270
Complaints pending at the end of the period 5,867 584
Note: 584 complaints have since been disposed.

Appendix 2.2: Month wise receipt of complaints at CRPC
Month 2021-22 2022-23
Received during the month Disposed during the month % of complaints disposed during the month Received during the month Disposed during the month % of complaints disposed during the month
April       43,176 21,739 50.35%
May 41,809 42,392 101.39%
June 42,615 45,307 106.32%
July 42,699 47,080 110.26%
August 50,498 49,522 98.07%
September 54,453 54,621 100.31%
October 48,754 46,918 96.23%
November 16,565 2,446 14.77% 51,774 54,386 105.05%
December 27,745 15,379 55.43% 54,159 52,412 96.77%
January 29,399 27,268 92.75% 56,988 58,866 103.30%
February 32,026 45,648 142.53% 49,170 49,193 100.05%
March 43,684 52,811 120.89% 53,409 66,484 124.48%
Total 1,49,419 1,43,552   5,89,504 5,88,920  

Appendix 2.3: Mode of receipt of complaints at CRPC
Mode of Receipt November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 % to total complaints April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023 % to total complaints
Email 1,24,367 83.23% 5,19,484 88.12%
Physical Letter 23,027 15.41% 58,794 9.97%
CPGRAMS 2,025 1.36% 11,226 1.91%
Total 1,49,419   5,89,504  

Appendix 3.1: Position of complaints received through CPGRAMS
Name of the RBIO 2020-21 (Apr – Mar) 2021-22 (Apr – Mar) 2022-23 (Apr – Mar)
Ahmedabad 107 156 395
Bengaluru 106 123 350
Bhopal 54 111 524
Bhubaneswar 31 33 323
Chandigarh 62 102 324
Chennai 1,063 629 293
Dehradun 27 55 390
Guwahati 16 44 228
Hyderabad 49 74 326
Jaipur 59 94 437
Jammu 4 56 322
Kanpur 152 141 534
Kolkata 737 568 451
Mumbai-I 145 178 369
Mumbai-II 1,324 765 507
New Delhi-I 146 144 544
New Delhi-II 1,779 1,292 401
New Delhi-III 50 66 240
Patna 55 102 552
Raipur 8 82 290
Ranchi 15 85 409
Thiruvananthapuram 24 56 244
Total 6,013 4,956 8,453

Appendix 3.2: Applications received by ORBIOs and CRPC under RTI Act, 2005
Name of the RBIO 2020-21 (Apr – Mar) 2021-22 (Apr – Mar) 2022-23 (Apr - Mar)
Ahmedabad 25 39 35
Bengaluru 55 76 49
Bhopal 28 18 26
Bhubaneswar 35 21 41
Chandigarh 150 156 47
Chennai 101 96 73
Dehradun 39 48 54
Guwahati 15 13 36
Hyderabad 34 48 28
Jaipur 123 80 56
Jammu 3 11 40
Kanpur 190 187 90
Kolkata 69 61 41
Mumbai-I 106 114 56
Mumbai-II 105 68 57
New Delhi-I 108 81 61
New Delhi-II 160 132 72
New Delhi-III 46 42 60
Patna 79 72 57
Raipur 7 7 33
Ranchi 9 9 46
Thiruvananthapuram 12 18 47
Total (A) 1,499 1,397 1,105
CRPC (B) - 99 267
Total (A+B) 1,499 1,496 1,372
Note: Where a single RIA is marked to more than one ORBIO or to CRPC; that RIA is counted for all the Ombudsman offices concerned / CRPC for that particular RIA. Further, RIAs which were dealt by Ombudsman Office of BOS, NBFC and Digital Transactions have been clubbed for the year 2020-21 and 2021-22

Appendix 4.1: Number of awareness programmes conducted during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023
ORBIO No. of Townhall Events No. of Awareness Programmes
Ahmedabad 2 13
Bengaluru 2 12
Bhopal 2 12
Bhubaneswar 2 8
Chandigarh 2 9
Chennai 3 13
Dehradun 2 6
Guwahati 2 12
Hyderabad 2 7
Jaipur 2 22
Jammu 4 9
Kanpur 2 12
Kolkata 2 11
Mumbai-I 3 13
Mumbai - II 2 18
New Delhi I 2 12
New Delhi II 1 4
New Delhi-III 2 15
Patna 2 8
Raipur 2 6
Ranchi 2 4
Thiruvananthapuram 3 12
Total 48 238

Appendix 4.2: Important policy initiatives relating to Customer Service issued by RBI in 2022-23 (April – March)
Date of Announcement Policy Initiative
April 01, 2022 Master Circular - Disbursement of Government Pension by Agency Banks (RBI/2022-23/09 DGBA.GBD.No.S2/31.02.007/2022-23): The Master Circular mandated prompt implementation of Government order relating to payment of Dearness Relief to pensioners, procedure for recovery of excess pension payment, acknowledgement for receipt of life certificate, compensate the pensioner for delay in crediting pension/ arrears, compensation to the pensioner for delay in crediting pension/ arrears, etc., in order to obviate the difficulty faced by the pensioners.
April 01, 2022 Master Circular– Facility for Exchange of Notes and Coins (RBI/2022-23/01/DCM(NE)No.G-5/08.07.18/2022-23): Mandates, inter-alia, all branches of banks in all parts of the country to issue fresh/ good quality notes and coins of all denominations, exchange soiled/ mutilated/ defective notes and accept coins and notes either for transactions or exchange to the members of public, so that there is no need for them to approach the RBI Regional Offices for this purpose.
April 01, 2022 Master Direction – Scheme of Penalties for bank branches and Currency Chests for deficiency in rendering customer service to the members of public
(RBI/2022-23/04/DCM (CC) No.G-5/03.44.01/2022-23): The Scheme of Penalties for bank branches including currency chests has been formulated in order to ensure that all bank branches / currency chests provide better customer service to the members of public / linked bank branches keeping in view the objectives of Clean Note Policy and enhancing operational efficiency.
April 07, 2022 Establishment of Digital Banking Units (DBUs) (RBI/2022-23/19 DOR.AUT.REC.12/22.01.001/2022-23): Guidelines on establishment of Digital Banking Units (DBUs) were issued to all domestic scheduled commercial banks (excluding regional rural banks, payments banks and local area banks). The guidelines define digital banking, DBU, digital banking products and digital banking segment, and cover the infrastructure and resources required by DBUs, and the products and services that could be offered by them. The DBUs shall facilitate customers in adopting digital modes/channels and create awareness on digital banking.
April 21, 2022 Master Direction – Credit Card and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2022 (RBI/2022-23/92 DoR.AUT.REC.No.27/24.01.041/2022-23): The instructions contained in Master Circular (July 2015) on credit card, debit card and rupee denominated co-branded pre-paid card operations of banks and credit card issuing NBFCs, were updated and issued in the form of Master Direction (MD) - Credit Card and Debit Card - Issuance and Conduct. Aspects such as closure of a credit card account, issuance of credit card for business purpose, billing issues, adjustment of credit transactions, new form factors, issues relating to co-branded arrangement, mis-selling, etc., have been strengthened in the circular.
May 19, 2022 Interoperable Card-less Cash Withdrawal (ICCW) at ATMs (RBI/2022-23/54 CO.DPSS.POLC.No.S-227/02-10-002/2022-23): All banks, ATM networks and WLAOs were advised to provide the option of ICCW at their ATMs. NPCI was advised to facilitate Unified Payments Interface (UPI) integration with all banks and ATM networks. While UPI would be used for customer authorisation in such transactions, settlement would be through the National Financial Switch (NFS) / ATM networks. Withdrawal limits for ICCW transactions is in-line with the limits for regular on-us / off-us ATM withdrawals.
May 23, 2022 Committee for Review of Customer Service Standards in RBI Regulated Entities: A Committee (Chairman: Shri B P Kanungo, Former Deputy Governor, RBI) for Review of Customer Service Standards in RBI Regulated Entities (REs) was constituted for examining and reviewing the customer service standards in the REs and adequacy of customer service regulations and suggest measures to improve customer protection.
June 16, 2022 Processing of e-mandates for recurring transactions
(RBI/2022-23/73 CO.DPSS.POLC.No.S-518/02.14.003/2022-23): The e-mandate framework for recurring transactions was revised enhancing the limit for subsequent transactions without additional factor of authentication (AFA) from ₹5,000 to ₹15,000.
July 28, 2022 Restriction on Storage of Actual Card Data [i.e. Card-on-File (CoF)] (RBI/2022-2023/95/CO.DPSS.POLC.No.S-760/02-14-003/2022-23): For ease of transition to an alternate system in respect of transactions where cardholders decide to enter the card details manually at the time of undertaking the transaction, merchants or their Payment Aggregator (PAs) were permitted to store card data till settlement or T+4 days (whichever is earlier) and acquiring banks were permitted to store card data till January 31, 2023.
August 05, 2022 Extension of Reserve Bank - Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2021 (RB-IOS, 2021) to Credit Information Companies (CICs) (CEPD.PRD.No.S544/13.01.001/2022-23): To provide an avenue for expeditious and cost free Alternate Grievance Redress to the customers of REs covered under the RBIOS, 2021 for grievances relating to credit information, the CICs have been brought under the ambit of RB-IOS, 2021 with effect from September 1, 2022.
August 12, 2022 Outsourcing of Financial Services - Responsibilities of regulated entities employing Recovery Agents (RBI/2022-23/108/DOR.ORG.REC.65/21.04.158/2022-23): Regulated Entities of RBI shall strictly ensure that they or their agents do not resort to intimidation or harassment of any kind, either verbal or physical, against any person in their debt collection efforts, including acts intended to humiliate publicly or intrude upon the privacy of the debtors' family members, referees and friends, sending inappropriate messages either on mobile or through social media, making threatening and/ or anonymous calls, persistently calling the borrower and / or calling the borrower before 8:00 a.m. and after 7:00 p.m. for recovery of overdue loans, making false and misleading representations, etc.
September 02, 2022 Guidelines on Digital Lending (RBI/2022-23/111 DOR.CRE.REC.66/21.07.001/2022-23): Guidelines on Digital Lending were issued to address concerns such as, mis-selling, breach of data privacy, customer grievance redressal, unfair business conduct, and unethical recovery practices, arising out of unbridled engagement of outsourced agents (lending service providers) to carry out various lending activities.
September 21, 2022 MANI (Mobile Aided Note Identifier) – Introduction of multi-lingual audio notification (Press Release: 2022-2023/899):
MANI which identifies the denomination of banknotes through audio notification in Hindi and English, is now capable of notifying the banknote denomination in 11 other languages (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu). The MANI application is free and can be downloaded from the Android Play Store and iOS App Store without any charges/payment.
October 06, 2022 Appointment of Internal Ombudsman (IO) by the Credit Information Companies (CICs) (RBI/2022-23/124 CEPD.PRD.No.S806/13-01-008/2022-23): To strengthen and improve the efficiency of the internal grievance redressal mechanism of CICs, all CICs were directed to appoint an Internal Ombudsman (IO) by April 1, 2023. The IO is an independent authority at the apex of the CIC’s internal grievance redress mechanism and reviews consumer complaints rejected wholly or partly by the CIC.
November 01, 2022 Eligibility Criteria for offering Internet Banking Facility by Regional Rural Banks, 2022 (RBI/2022-23/135 DoR.AUT.REC.81/24.01.001/2022-23): Keeping in view the need to promote the spread of digital banking for customers in rural areas, the eligibility criteria applicable to Regional Rural Banks for offering Internet Banking with transactional facility to their customers have been revised.
November 02, 2022 Nation-wide Awareness Programme:
The Reserve Bank, in collaboration with REs, initiated a nation-wide consumer financial awareness programme with deeper outreach covering all segments of population, especially those in rural and semi-urban areas. The campaign was customised regionally for a better connect. While emphasising information on customer rights, customer protection and grievance redress framework under RB-IOS, 2021, the campaign also endeavored to deepen percolation of awareness on protection against digital and electronic financial transaction frauds covering do’s and don’ts, safeguards and prevention.
December 07, 2022 Enhancements to Unified Payments Interface (UPI) – Processing Mandates with Single-Block-and-Multiple-Debits: To ease making payments in e-commerce space and towards investments in securities, RBI has announced enhancements to UPI to facilitate processing mandates with single-block-and-multiple-debits.
January 23, 2023 RBI extends time for renewal of agreements for existing Safe Deposit Locker/Safe Custody Article Facility Provided by Banks (RBI/2022-23/168 CO.CEPD.PRS.No.S1233/13-01-018/2022-2023): In order to alleviate the difficulties faced by customers in renewing their locker agreement with banks, the deadline for banks to complete the process of renewal of existing agreements for the safe deposit lockers was extended by an year to December 31, 2023, with intermediate milestones of 50 per cent by June 30, 2023, and 75 per cent by September 30, 2023. The banks were advised to facilitate execution of the fresh/supplementary stamped agreements with their customers by taking measures such as arranging stamp papers, franking, electronic execution of agreement, e-stamping, etc. and provide a copy of the executed agreement to the customer. Where operations in lockers had been frozen for non-execution of agreement by January 1, 2023, the same were advised to be unfrozen with immediate effect.
February 10, 2023 Issuance of PPIs to Foreign Nationals / Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) visiting India (RBI/2022-23/176 CO.DPSS.POLC.No.S–1907/02.14.006/2022-23): NRIs and foreign nationals (from G20 countries) were permitted access to UPI for their merchant payments [peer-to-merchant (P2M)] in India.

Annex 1: Statement of complaints received against banks by the ORBIOs during April 1, 2022 – March 31, 2023
Name of the Bank Total Complaints Complaints per branch Complaints related to ATM/DC* per 1000 ATM/DC* Outstanding Complaints related to CC* per 1000 CC* Outstanding Digital Complaints per 1000 digital transactions executed through the bank Non-digital Complaints per 1000 accounts # ATM / Debit Cards Mobile / electronic banking Credit Cards Loans and advances Deposit Accounts related Pension payments Remittances Para banking Notes and Coins OTHERS
Public Sector Banks  
STATE BANK OF INDIA 40,345 1.61 0.027 0.084 0.00039 0.036 7,470 10,202 1,405 6,599 7,516 1,517 603 603 131 4,299
BANK OF BARODA 9,944 1.18 0.022 0.289 0.00038 0.030 1,807 2,045 562 1,736 2,052 224 186 146 24 1,162
BANK OF INDIA 5,958 1.10 0.030 1.128 0.00067 0.034 1,403 1,011 87 1,082 1,205 187 121 86 16 760
BANK OF MAHARASHTRA 1,920 0.84 0.041 0.388 0.00034 0.029 555 357 13 309 294 46 31 29 8 278
CANARA BANK 7,925 0.78 0.025 0.232 0.00031 0.044 1,274 1,217 145 1,975 1,774 261 144 118 25 992
CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA 4,412 0.95 0.036 - 0.00055 0.028 1,014 685 48 787 860 322 78 39 19 560
INDIAN BANK 5,332 0.87 0.035 0.470 0.00040 0.028 1,103 770 80 1,197 1,087 293 95 85 17 605
INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK 2,080 0.63 0.019 0.288 0.00019 0.024 312 309 23 612 415 64 51 21 3 270
PUNJAB AND SIND BANK 552 0.34 0.034 - 0.00080 0.027 126 75 1 140 105 12 11 7 - 75
PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK 12,850 1.14 0.069 0.511 0.00061 0.036 2,818 2,157 162 2,170 2,724 934 214 216 57 1,398
UCO BANK 2,629 0.81 0.028 - 0.00061 0.028 352 894 16 447 430 100 49 18 6 317
UNION BANK OF INDIA 8,197 0.93 0.036 0.338 0.00032 0.030 1,823 1,606 218 1,500 1,482 277 153 101 28 1,009
All Public Sector Banks 1,02,144 1.13 0.031 0.134 0.00041 0.033 20,057 21,328 2,760 18,554 19,944 4,237 1,736 1,469 334 11,725
Private Sector Banks  
AXIS BANK LIMITED 13,713 2.70 0.041 0.379 0.00063 0.081 1,254 1,668 4,593 2,417 2,295 24 167 193 28 1,074
BANDHAN BANK LIMITED 666 0.11 0.017 - 0.00030 0.012 92 125 6 220 113 - 7 19 4 80
CITY UNION BANK LIMITED 237 0.31 0.007 0.660 0.00009 0.026 18 43 4 79 51 1 1 2 - 38
CSB BANK LIMITED 145 0.20 0.010 0.310 0.00017 0.044 9 8 2 66 39 1 2 - - 18
DCB BANK LIMITED 388 0.87 0.021 - 0.00048 0.131 20 18 2 244 78 - 4 4 1 17
DHANLAXMI BANK LIMITED 55 0.20 0.011 0.219 0.00022 0.022 6 4 2 16 21 - 1 1 - 4
FEDERAL BANK LIMITED 1,468 1.04 0.020 0.172 0.00044 0.030 256 422 95 243 310 1 16 16 1 108
HDFC BANK LIMITED 14,979 1.90 0.029 0.201 0.00046 0.053 1,490 3,273 3,516 3,124 1,909 13 205 175 33 1,241
ICICI BANK LIMITED 16,602 2.87 0.046 0.317 0.00075 0.072 1,515 3,096 4,581 3,189 2,254 27 291 173 34 1,442
IDBI BANK LIMITED 1,658 0.77 0.019 0.660 0.00022 0.076 215 313 29 491 322 5 36 38 2 207
IDFC FIRST BANK LIMITED 4,158 3.71 0.032 0.295 0.00077 0.066 200 680 456 2,003 441 1 39 43 3 292
INDUSIND BANK LIMITED 3,954 1.68 0.044 0.457 0.00100 0.044 368 493 1,017 1,046 587 1 80 38 8 316
JAMMU & KASHMIR BANK LIMITED 483 0.48 0.036 0.116 0.00208 0.011 138 128 9 83 53 6 4 6 - 56
KARNATAKA BANK LIMITED 440 0.47 0.018 - 0.00026 0.016 95 112 2 112 59 - 5 1 5 49
KARUR VYSYA BANK LIMITED 530 0.59 0.009 0.384 0.00014 0.035 40 101 4 203 89 - 8 4 1 80
KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK LIMITED 7,414 3.82 0.017 0.245 0.00057 0.093 495 2,845 1,203 1,438 808 7 87 59 6 466
NAINITAL BANK LIMITED 61 0.35 0.053 - 0.01308 0.042 11 10 - 18 13 - 1 - 1 7
RBL BANK LIMITED 3,486 6.52 0.085 0.529 0.00442 0.060 137 149 2,335 471 227 1 11 13 2 140
SOUTH INDIAN BANK LIMITED 427 0.44 0.014 0.143 0.00039 0.024 50 100 29 122 78 1 6 3 - 38
TAMILNAD MERCANTILE BANK LIMITED 302 0.55 0.028 0.049 0.00034 0.026 62 45 2 104 51 - 3 1 1 33
YES BANK LIMITED 2,598 2.13 0.038 0.394 0.00037 0.146 168 440 559 747 335 2 40 39 2 266
All Private Sector Banks 73,764 1.74 0.031 0.310 0.00059 0.057 6,639 14,073 18,446 16,436 10,133 91 1,014 828 132 5,972
Payment Banks  
AIRTEL PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED 1,370 41.52 0.014 - 0.00029 0.011 57 801 20 8 309 2 4 5 2 162
FINO PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED 226 2.94 0.008 - 0.00010 0.014 50 68 2 4 63 - 3 2 - 34
INDIA POST PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED 364 0.56 0.006 - 0.00016 0.003 57 131 1 11 106 1 3 12 1 41
JIO PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED 43 3.91 - - 0.00124 - 3 26 1 - 4 - 1 - - 8
NSDL PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED 107 107.00 0.006 - 0.00037 - 3 36 1 16 32 - - 1 - 18
PAYTM PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED 3,513 501.86 0.006 - 0.00025 0.042 219 1,851 136 311 487 1 20 26 5 457
All Payment Banks 5,623 7.22 0.007 - 0.00024 0.014 389 2,913 161 350 1,001 4 31 46 8 720
 
Small Finance Banks  
AU SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 899 1.13 0.014 0.450 0.00074 0.153 36 103 227 340 112 - 9 5 1 66
CAPITAL SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 32 0.18 0.005 0.000 0.00050 0.031 1 8 - 10 7 - 1 - - 5
EQUITAS SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 375 0.40 0.010 - 0.00038 0.051 33 55 7 173 72 - 4 3 - 28
ESAF SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 63 0.09 0.003 - 0.00023 0.003 14 14 1 14 9 - 2 - - 9
FINCARE SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 122 0.14 0.001 - 0.00025 0.013 4 12 1 46 42 - 1 4 - 12
JANA SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 310 0.52 0.010 - 0.00176 0.035 27 28 3 127 97 - - 5 - 23
NORTH EAST SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 6 0.03 0.005 0.000 0.00018 0.003 2 - - 1 1 - - - - 2
SHIVALIK SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 42 1.17 0.059 0.000 0.00178 0.082 5 6 - 17 5 - - - 1 8
SURYODAY SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 71 0.14 0.007 0.000 0.00026 0.020 4 4 - 25 29 - - - - 9
UJJIVAN SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 229 0.36 0.003 0.000 0.00013 0.014 29 29 - 81 60 - 1 1 - 28
UNITY SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 33 0.10 - 0.000 - 0.017 1 - - 13 9 - - 1 - 9
UTKARSH SMALL FINANCE BANK LIMITED 83 0.10 0.007 - 0.00079 0.012 11 11 1 32 18 - - 2 - 8
All Small Finance Banks 2,265 0.34 0.006 0.476 0.00045 0.027 167 270 240 879 461 - 18 21 2 207
Foreign Banks  
AB BANK LIMITED 2 2.00 - - - 3.125 - - 1 - 1 - - - - -
ABU DHABI COMMERCIAL BANK PJSC 3 - - - - - - 2 - - - - 1 - - -
AMERICAN EXPRESS BANKING CORP. 311 155.50 - 0.194 0.00580 0.027 5 4 260 15 5 - 1 2 - 19
BARCLAYS BANK PLC 18 4.50 1.101 - 0.00293 0.373 1 - 6 5 4 - - - - 2
BANK OF AMERICA NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 6 1.50 - - 0.00015 0.248 - 2 - 1 1 - 2 - - -
BANK OF CHINA LIMITED 1 0.50 - - - 30.303 - - - - 1 - - - - -
BNP PARIBAS 2 0.29 - - 0 0.639 - - - - - - 1 - - 1
CITIBANK N.A 1,409 88.06 - 5.428 0.00211 0.358 82 134 882 113 111 - 29 8 - 50
DBS BANK INDIA LIMITED 382 0.69 0.016 0.103 0.00029 0.066 30 96 23 69 107 2 8 5 1 41
DEUTSCHE BANK AG 105 5.25 0.009 - 0.00009 0.312 1 4 2 73 15 - 2 - - 8
DOHA BANK Q.P.S.C. 1 0.33 - - 0 0.045 - - - - - - - - - 1
EMIRATES NBD BANK (P.J.S.C.) 1 0.33 - - 0 0.381 - - - - - - - - - 1
FIRST ABU DHABI BANK PJSC 2 2.00 - - 2.63158 7.353 - - 1 - - - - - - 1
FIRSTRAND BANK LTD 2 2.00 - - 0 - - - - 2 - - - - - -
HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPN.LTD. 346 11.93 0.024 0.255 0.00059 0.088 14 24 178 66 38 - 4 2 - 20
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 2 0.40 - - 0 0.046 - - - - - - - - - 2
MUFG BANK LTD. 1 0.20 - - 0 0.237 - - - 1 - - - - - -
NATWEST MARKETS PLC. 4 2.00 - - 0 - - - - - 2 - - - - 2
QATAR NATIONAL BANK (Q.P.S.C) 1 1.00 - - 0 9.709 - - - 1 - - - - - -
SBERBANK 1 1.00 - - 0 2.809 - - - - - - - - - 1
SBM BANK (INDIA) LIMITED 1,054 58.56 0.144 0.459 0.02458 0.169 87 82 492 180 134 - 9 1 - 69
SHINHAN BANK 2 0.33 - - 0.00222 0.000 - 2 - - - - - - - -
SONALI BANK 2 1.00 - - 0 0.638 - - - 1 - - - - - 1
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK 1,972 18.96 0.084 0.962 0.00336 0.271 96 143 1,021 389 189 - 17 4 2 111
UNITED OVERSEAS BANK LIMITED 2 1.00 - - 0 55.556 - - - - 1 - 1 - - -
WOORI BANK 7 2.33 0 - 0 1.188 - - - 5 1 - - - - 1
All Foreign Banks 5,639 7.10 0.073 0.629 0.00188 0.153 316 493 2,866 921 610 2 75 22 3 331
 
All Regional Rural Banks 3,665           820 498 45 982 695 32 35 47 15 496
All Co-operative Banks 3,535           247 280 31 1,457 768 11 28 43 11 659
 
GRAND TOTAL 1,96,635           28,635 39,855 24,549 39,579 33,612 4,377 2,937 2,476 505 20,110
* DC – Debit Card; CC – Credit Card;
# Sum of deposit and credit accounts.

Annex 2: Statement of complaints received against NBFCs by the ORBIOs during April 1, 2022 – March 31, 2023
Name of the NBFC Non-adherence to fair practices code / loans & advances related Others TOTAL
SBI Cards & Payment Services Pvt. Ltd. 228 9,227 9,455
Bajaj Finance Limited 2,534 416 2,950
Indiabulls Consumer Finance Limited
(Erstwhile IVL Finance Limited)
1,264 358 1,622
Dmi Finance Pvt Ltd. 913 306 1,219
Aditya Birla Finance Limited 920 152 1,072
HDB Financial Services Limited 629 123 752
Hero Fincorp Limited
(Erstwhile Hero Honda Finlease Limited)
612 105 717
Home Credit India Finance Private Limited
(Erstwhile Rajshree Auto Finance Limited)
572 86 658
Fullerton India Credit Company Limited 483 106 589
Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Limited 448 88 536
Bhanix Finance & Investment Ltd 465 62 527
IIFL Finance Limited
(Erstwhile IIFL Holdings Limited)
413 93 506
Hinduja Leyland Finance Limited 367 94 461
PayU Finance India Private Limited
(Erstwhile Sidvik Leasing Private Limited)
308 146 454
TVS Credit Services Ltd 357 97 454
Tata Capital Financial Services Limited 382 58 440
Muthoot Finance Limited 332 99 431
Bob Financial Solutions Limited
(Erstwhile Bobcards Limited)
15 375 390
Krazybee Services Private Limited 317 68 385
L&T Finance Limited 311 65 376
Shriram City Union Finance Limited 292 80 372
Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd 294 52 346
Clix Capital Services Private Limited 253 30 283
Capfloat Financial Services Private Limited. 207 53 260
Navi Finserv Private Limited 219 39 258
Quadrillion Finance Private Limited 94 147 241
Manappuram Finance Limited 195 36 231
Shriram Transport Finance Company Limited 180 49 229
Bajaj Finserv Limited 149 46 195
SBFC Finance Private Limited
(Erstwhile Small Business Fincredit India Private Limited)
160 33 193
SI Creva Capital Services Private Limited 142 40 182
Kotak Mahindra Prime Ltd. 143 35 178
Lendingkart Finance Limited
(Erstwhile Aadri Infin Limited)
148 28 176
India Infoline Finance Limited
(Erstwhile India Infoline Investment Services Ltd.)
136 37 173
Akara Capital Advisors Private Limited 123 40 163
Tata Motors Finance Limited
(Erstwhile Sheba Properties Limited)
135 21 156
Avanse Financial Services Ltd 128 20 148
Poonawalla Finance Private Limited
(Erstwhile Adar Poonawalla Finvest Private Limited)
120 14 134
Aditya Birla Capital Limited 103 25 128
Magma Fincorp Ltd 100 10 110
InCred Financial Services Limited 86 15 101
Others 3,380 1,441 4,821
Grand Total 18,657 14,415 33,072
Note: Entity-wise complaints have been given only for those NBFCs wherein more than 100 complaints were received at the ORBIOs.

Annex 3: Statement of complaints received against NBPSPs by the ORBIOs during April 1, 2022 – March 31, 2023
Name of the NBPSP Mobile/Electronic Fund Transfers / Mobile Electronic Banking Others TOTAL
Amazon Pay (India) Private Limited 287 106 393
Appnit Technologies Private Limited 5 0 5
Balancehero India Private Limited 2 11 13
CSC e – Governance Services India Ltd 24 9 33
Ebix Payment Services Private Limited
(Erstwhile Itz Cash Card Limited)
0 2 2
Eko India Financial Services Private Limited 0 1 1
Eroute Technologies Private Limited 3 0 3
GI Technology Private Limited 1 0 1
Hip Bar Private Limited 1 0 1
India Transact Services Limited. 3 3 6
IndiaIdeas.com Limited 6 3 9
Infibeam Avenues Limited
(Erstwhile Avenues India Private Limited)
4 2 6
LivQuik Technology (India) Private Limited 3 3 6
National Payments Corporation of India 44 5 49
Ola Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.
(Erstwhile ZipCash Card Services Pvt. Ltd)
44 66 110
One Mobikwik Systems Private Limited 810 665 1,475
Paul Merchants Finance Private Limited 0 6 6
Pay Point India Network Private Limited 7 1 8
PayU Payments Private Limited 163 95 258
Phonepe Private Limited
(Erstwhile FX Mart Pvt. Ltd)
626 117 743
Pine Labs Private Limited 44 32 76
QwikCilver Solutions Pvt. Ltd 5 1 6
RapiPay Fintech Private Limited 17 6 23
Razorpay Technologies Private Limited 95 45 140
Sodexo SVC India Pvt. Ltd 15 3 18
Spice Money Limited 32 11 43
Supreme Securities Limited 0 1 1
TranServ Private Limited 2 6 8
Tri O Tech Solutions Private Ltd. 1 0 1
Unimoni Financial Services Limited
(Erstwhile UAE Exchange & Financial Services Limited)
0 4 4
Uniorbit Payment Solutions Limited
(Erstwhile Weizmann Impex Service Enterprise Limited)
0 3 3
Western Union Financial Services Incorporated USA 0 1 1
Worldline ePayments India Private Limited
(Erstwhile Ingenico ePayments India Private Limited and TechProcess Payment Services Limited)
2 2 4
Grand Total 2,246 1,210 3,456

Annex 4: Statement of complaints received against CICs by the ORBIOs during April 1, 2022 – March 31, 2023
NAME OF THE CIC Credit Card Loans and Advances Others TOTAL
Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited 42 581 173 796
CRIF High Mark Credit Information Services Private Limited 9 70 20 99
Equifax Credit Information Services Private Limited 5 37 8 50
Experian Credit Information Company of India Private Limited 7 66 21 94
         
Grand Total 63 754 222 1,039

1 The number provided pertains only to number of complaints that were disposed or pending for processing at CRPC. The complaints that were assigned to ORBIOs/CEPCs post preliminary scrutiny have not been included in the number to avoid duplication.

2 Of the 4,68,854 complaints, 584 complaints were pending as on March 31, 2023. These complaints have since been disposed.

3 Slight differential in auto allocation of complaints is on account of volume of specific regional language complaints, redistribution due to pendency / staff shortages, etc.

4 This decline is in consonance with the process re-engineering and structural changes introduced in the Ombudsman framework subsequent to the launch of RB-IOS, 2021, whereby, only actionable complaints flow to ORBIOs as compared to the erstwhile schemes.

5 The Credit Information Companies (CICs) have been brought under the ambit of the RB-IOS, 2021 w.e.f. September 1, 2022.

6 Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.

7 Abandoned calls are those calls wherein all CC personnel were busy on other calls. The caller remains in queue for certain time and then the call gets disconnected by the system. Several of these callers call back again.

8 Punjabi operational from January 6, 2022, Assamese operational from June 21, 2022.

9 Source: https://www.oecd.org/finance/high-level-principles-on-financial-consumer-protection.htm


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