The Reserve Bank of India, on Friday, proposed the ‘One Nation One Ombudsman’ approach for grievance redressal, in a move aimed at enhancing consumer protection.
“To make the alternate dispute redress mechanism simpler and more responsive to the customers of regulated entities, it has been decided to implement, inter alia, integration of the three ombudsman schemes and adoption of the ‘One Nation One Ombudsman’ approach for grievance redressal,” said the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies.
This is intended to make the process of redress of grievances easier by enabling the customers of the banks, NBFCs and non-bank issuers of PPIs to register their complaints under the integrated scheme, with one centralised reference point, it said.
The Integrated Ombudsman Scheme will be rolled out in June 2021.
As an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, three ombudsman schemes – Banking Ombudsman Scheme, Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies and Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions – are in operation from 22 ombudsman offices of the RBI located across the country.
The RBI had operationalised complaint management system portal as a one-stop solution for alternative dispute resolution of customer complaints not resolved satisfactorily by the regulated entities.
“The proposed Integrated Ombudsmen Scheme combining the schemes of banks, NBFCs and Non-Bank Prepaid Payments Issuers will help in easy lodging of customer grievances and addressal. It is a step in the right direction for improving the customer service in banks,” said Rajkiran Rai, Chairman, Indian Banks’ Association and Managing Director and CEO, Union Bank of India.
‘A welcome move’
Mandar Agashe, Founder and MD, Sarvatra Technologies, said with interoperability among various payment systems on the rise, the RBI’s new ombudsman approach is a welcome move. “It’s a big step to bring more effectiveness and speed similar to one nation one card,” he said.