PremiumAccording to the Annual Report of Ombudsman Schemes for 2021-22, complaints relating to the digital modes of payment and transactions were the highest
The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Wednesday said that the volume of complaints received by the ombudsman schemes or consumer education and protection cells during the year 2021-22 increased by 9.39 per cent to 4,18,184.
Of the 4,18,184 complaints received under the RBI ombudsman schemes, 3,04,496 were handled by the 22 Offices of RBI Ombudsman.
The RBI report said that since establishment of Centralised Receipt and Processing Center (CRPC) 1,49,419 complaints handled at the CRPC. Of these, 1,43,552 complaints had been disposed as at the end of March 31, 2022.
According to the Annual Report of Ombudsman Schemes for 2021-22, complaints relating to the digital modes of payment and transactions were the highest in number. It constitutes nearly 42.12 per cent of the total complaints received during the year.
The rate of disposal of complaints by RBIOs improved to 97.97 per cent in 2021-22 as compared to 96.59 per cent in 2020-21.
The majority of complaints, i.e., 63.63 per cent were resolved through mutual settlement or conciliation or mediation.
On 12 November 2021, PM Narendra Modi launched RB-IOS. The ambit of RB-IOS, 2021 was extended to include non-scheduled Urban Cooperative Banks with deposits of ₹50 crore and above.
Under the RB-IOS, 2021, a CRPC was established at RBI, Chandigarh to receive complaints through email or physical mode from across the country and handle the initial scrutiny and processing of these complaints before assigning the maintainable ones to ORBIOs for further redressal.
A Contact Center to assist complainants in lodging their complaints, providing them information regarding redressal mechanism at RBI and awareness messages related to safe banking practices in ten regional languages.
The report added that Consumer Education and Protection Department during April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, will work towards review of the guidelines on “Strengthening of grievance redress framework for banks" issued in January 2021.