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Foreword

The Annual Report of Ombudsman Schemes, 2021-22 marks an important juncture in the history of the Alternate Grievance Redress (AGR) framework of RBI. The year witnessed launch of Reserve Bank - Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS), 2021 which integrated the erstwhile three Ombudsman Schemes of RBI and brought the Non-Scheduled Urban Cooperative Banks with deposit size above ₹50 crore under its ambit. As an outcome of Centralization in the form of a CRPC, Automation of some processes in the form of initial processing by the CMS and Simplification in the form of removal of limited grounds of complaints and adoption of “deficiency in service” as a single broadbased ground for lodgement of complaints, the RB-IOS made the AGR efficient and faster. Setting up a Contact Centre for providing support in lodging complaints and providing information on the AGR has further added to the ease of lodging complaints.

It is satisfying to note that the Ombudsman mechanism achieved a disposal rate of 97.97%, despite this being a transition year and despite an increase in the receipt of complaints over the previous year. The year also witnessed scaling up of the awareness generation drive with “Ombudsman Speak” on the eve of World Consumer Rights Day in March 2022 and in September 2022. This was supplemented by a “Talkathon” with the media in August and “All India Intensive Awareness Campaign” run during the month of November 2022 in collaboration with the Regulated Entities.

This Annual Report is the first under the RB-IOS and thus, sets a new benchmark and creates a new legacy and I hope all stakeholders will find it useful.

Sd/-

(Anil Kumar Sharma)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The year 2021-22 marked a major milestone for the Ombudsman mechanism of RBI as it witnessed the integration of the three erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes viz., Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS) 2006, Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies (OSNBFC) 2018, and Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions (OSDT) 2019 into the Reserve Bank - Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS), 2021, that was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on November 12, 2021. Along with its launch, the Centralised Receipt and Processing Center (CRPC) was also established at RBI, Chandigarh to receive complaints through email/physical mode from across the country and handle the initial scrutiny and processing of these complaints before assigning the maintainable ones to Offices of RBI Ombudsman (ORBIOs) for further redressal. The CRPC also hosts 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 (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu) apart from Hindi and English.

A brief analysis of complaints handled under the three erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes (BOS, OSNBFC and OSDT) between April 1 and November 11, 2021 is as under:

a) BOS: The total number of complaints received by the 22 Offices of the Banking Ombudsman (OBOs) between April 1 and November 11, 2021 was 2,09,196. Around 90% 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 North Zone, with eight of the 22 OBOs, received the highest volume (42.70%) of complaints, followed by the West and the South Zones. Share of complaints related to ATM/ Debit Cards, at 14.65% of the total, were the highest followed by complaints related to Mobile/ Electronic Banking at 13.64%. Majority (66.11%) of the maintainable complaints were resolved through mutual settlement/ conciliation/ mediation and a total of 17 Awards were issued under BOS. During the year 51 Appeals were received against the decisions of the Banking Ombudsmen (BOs) under BOS.

b) OSNBFC: The number of complaints received at the four Offices of NBFC Ombudsman (ONBFCO) between April 1 and November 11, 2021 was 20,439. Complaints relating to ‘Non-adherence of Fair Practices Code (FPC)’ were the highest, constituting 61.89% of the total, followed by complaints regarding ‘Non-observance of RBI directions’ and ‘Levy of Charges without prior notice’. Majority (70.08%) of the maintainable complaints were resolved through mutual settlement/ conciliation/ mediation and 12 Awards were issued under OSNBFC. During the year 10 Appeals were filed with Appellate Authority against the decisions of the NBFC Ombudsmen (NBFCOs).

c) OSDT: The number of complaints received by the 22 Offices of Ombudsman for Digital Transactions (OODTs) between April 1 and November 11, 2021 was 2,281. Complaints relating to fund transfers/ UPI/ BBPS/ Bharat QR Code constituted the largest share of complaints i.e., 44.76%. Majority (59.65%) of maintainable complaints were resolved through mutual agreement/ conciliation /mediation process. No Appeal was received under OSDT between April 1 and November 11, 2021. The rate of disposal under the three erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes stood at 100%, as all complaints brought forward and received between April 1 and November 11, 2021 were disposed by March 31, 2022.

d) RB-IOS, 2021: Under the RB-IOS, 2021, following the ‘One Nation, One Ombudsman’ principle, the territorial jurisdictions for the ORBIOs have been abrogated, and complaints are assigned to all the ORBIOs by the CMS. Grounds of complaint covered under the RB-IOS have also been expanded to cover all complaints involving “deficiency of service”, which has been defined under the scheme. The CMS was upgraded to align with the requirements under RB-IOS, 2021 to improve its overall efficiency. The coverage of RB-IOS was extended to include the non-scheduled Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) with a deposit size of ₹50 crore or above as at the end of previous Financial Year. Credit Information Companies (CICs) were brought under RBI-IOS with effect from September 1, 2022.

Between November 12 and March 31, 2022, a total of 1,86,268 complaints were received under the RB-IOS. The CRPC handled the preliminary scrutiny of the complaints received through email/ physical mode (i.e. 1,49,419 complaints) and closed 1,07,821 complaints as non-complaints/ non-maintainable complaints during the period. A total of 72,580 complaints were assigned to the ORBIOs from the CMS portal directly or through CRPC for redress during this period. A total of 31 Appeals were received against the decisions of ORBIOs and all such Appeals were filed by the complainants. Four Awards were issued by the ORBIOs during the period.

Under the erstwhile three Schemes and the RB-IOS, during the period April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, total number of complaints received at the ORBIOs and the CRPC, stood at 4,18,184, showing an increase of 9.39% over last year. Of these, 3,04,496 complaints were handled by the 22 ORBIOs. The overall disposal rate for the year at the ORBIOs stood at 97.97%. A total of 33 Awards were issued by the ORBIOs and 92 Appeals were received against the decisions of the RBI Ombudsmen (RBIOs) during the year.

Other Developments during the year

Apart from the launch of the RB-IOS, 2021 along with the setting up of the CRPC and Contact Center, several steps were undertaken to strengthen grievance redress system:

1. A Nationwide Customer Satisfaction Survey to assess the satisfaction level of the complainants who had approached the RBIOs for redress of their grievances was undertaken through a third-party agency, which indicated the overall satisfaction level of the complainants at 59.55%.

2. The annual Root Cause Analysis for the year 2022 was conducted and necessary action initiated based on the causes identified.

3. All medium-term strategic milestones (11) identified for CEPD in terms of Utkarsh 2022 were completed.

4. The ambit of RB-IOS, 2021 was extended to Credit Information Companies (CICs) with effect from September 1, 2022.

5. The RBIOs conducted 29 town-hall events and 175 awareness programmes during the year. These events were focused on avenues of grievance redress and consumer protection issues.

6. Nationwide Awareness Campaign was launched on the World Consumer Rights Day on March 15, 2022, to strengthen the on-going financial awareness and education by the department and Ombudsman Offices. Two phases of the programme have been completed so far.

Way forward

During the period April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, CEPD will work towards the following action plans:

1. Review of the guidelines on under “Strengthening of grievance redress framework for banks” issued in January 2021.

2. Extension of the RB-IOS, 2021 to more REs that are not covered presently under the Scheme.

3. Extension of Internal Ombudsman (IO) Scheme for Credit Information Companies (CICs) and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs).

4. Further initiatives under the nationwide awareness campaign to reach the remote and untouched regions and hitherto excluded segments of population.

5. Further enhance the efficiency & ease of usage of CMS.

6. Upgrade the Contact Centre and cater for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery requirements.

Appropriate regulatory initiatives regarding financial consumer protection will be further enhanced to identify issues to address and improve the grievance redress mechanism of REs as well as the RBI, and measures for implementation of the framework for financial education shall be enhanced.

Chapter 1:

The Ombudsman Schemes of RBI: Activities during April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022

1.1 The Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS) was launched as an AGR mechanism with a view, inter-alia, to promote expeditious, cost free and efficient redressal of customer complaints that had not been satisfactorily redressed by the banks. The Scheme was last amended in 2017 to align it with the changes in the banking landscape. Due to the growing significance of NBFCs in the financial system and rising share of NBPSPs, the Ombudsman Scheme for the NBFCs (OSNBFCs) was launched in 2018 and the Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions (OSDT) was launched in 2019.

1.2 The three erstwhile schemes had limited, specified and varying grounds of complaints which acted as a limiting factor and led to uneven redress across the customers of different REs. Hence, based on the recommendations of an internal Working Group, the three Ombudsman Schemes were integrated into RB-IOS, 2021. Based on the principle of ‘One nation, One Ombudsman’, the jurisdictions of the Ombudsmen offices were done away to ensure equal distribution of complaints across all 22 offices. The grounds of complaints were broad based to include all complaints involving “deficiency in service”. The Scheme was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on November 12, 2021. With a view to provide one address and one email ID for lodging physical and email complaints from anywhere in the country, a CRPC was established at RBI, Chandigarh, along with a Contact Center available at a toll-free number (14448) to provide guidance on lodging complaints and information on complaints and AGR mechanism to the complainants in Hindi, English and 10 regional languages¹ available during 9:30 AM to 5:15 PM on weekdays (except banking holidays) and through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) on 24x7 basis.

Receipt of complaints

1.3 The details relating to the total number of complaints received under the erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes (BOS, OSNBFC and OSDT) during the past three years and the RB-IOS, 2021 are provided in Table 1.1.

ORBIO-wise receipt (prior to November 12, 2021) and allocation (November 12, 2021 onwards) of complaints

1.4 ORBIO wise receipt/ allocation of complaints under the Ombudsman Schemes during the past three years is given in Table 1.2:

1.6 As mentioned in para 1.2 above, the structural changes in the Ombudsman framework under RB-IOS 2021, particularly the setting up of CRPC for handling email and physical complaints and initial assessment on maintainability of complaints in CMS. have brought down the number of complaints handled by ORBIOs during 2021-22. During this period, the highest volume of complaints under the erstwhile Schemes were handled by ORBIO - New Delhi II at 7.97% of the total, followed by Kanpur and Chennai, while ORBIOs - Jammu, Raipur and Guwahati received the lowest volumes of complaints.

1.7 Post launch of RB-IOS, 2021, based on the ‘One Nation, One Ombudsman’ approach, the divergence in the number of complaints handled at different ORBIOs has been minimized and are primarily on account of physical complaints in regional languages and variation in the size of the office, as complaints are since assigned to ORBIOs according to a pre-defined algorithm embedded in CMS. The same can be observed in the Table 1.2 above and the Chart 1.1⁵ given below:

Geographic dispersion of complaints across the states

1.8 An analysis on the geographic dispersion of complaints received under the Ombudsman Schemes/ RB-IOS during the year across the states in the country, in proportion to the total number of accounts held (deposit and credit) by Scheduled Commercial Banks in the respective states is depicted in the map (Chart 1.2) given subsequently. The figure presented is based on complaints received per 1 lakh accounts held in the respective States/ Union Territories (UTs), as on March 31, 2022.

1.9 Major observations on geographical distribution of complaints are as follows:

1. NCT of Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana, Gujarat, and Maharashtra were the top five states/UTs to contribute to Ombudsman complaints, while Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram were the lowest contributors.

2. The trends representing top five state/UTs could be attributed to higher awareness levels, better availability and higher usage of financial services, physical and broadband connectivity, etc. as compared to the other regions.

3. Awareness about avenues of redress tends to be higher in metro/urban areas as per the Satisfaction Survey conducted in 2021.

Modes of receipt of complaints

1.10 Complaints can be received online (through CMS portal/ CPGRAMS), through email or as physical complaints, with the CMS portal mode being the most efficient mode of complaint registration. The break-up on complaints received through the different modes of receipt in the past three years is given below (Chart 1.3).

1.11 It is observed that the CMS portal retains the highest share of complaints received/ assigned to ORBIOs. However, physical complaints have witnessed an uptick in the current year compared to the previous year, especially post launch of the RB-IOS, 2021. This could be ascribed to the convenience arising from a single address to send the physical complaints from anywhere in the country under the “One Nation One Ombudsman” approach adopted under RB-IOS. This data excludes email and physical complaints closed at CRPC which is detailed in para 1.6 of this report.

Category-wise receipt of complaints

1.12 Complaints against banks formed the largest portion, accounting for 88.04% of complaints received by the ORBIOs. The top 5 categories of complaints against each entity type are represented in Table 1.3 below. The complete list of ground wise receipt of complaints is given in the Appendix 1.1.

1.13 Major observations are as under:

1. Complaints relating to ATM/ Debit Cards have witnessed a decline over the past three years; Share of complaints related to mobile banking/ electronic banking has seen a slight increase.

2. Share of complaints in respect of Loans and Advances has increased, mainly due to complaints against FPC being classified under ‘Loans and Advances’ since the launch of RB-IOS, 2021. This justifies the decline in FPC complaints.

3. Post dissolution of Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) and the launch of RB-IOS, complaints against BCSBI codes have also been diverted to other categories, including ‘Loans and Advances’.

4. Loans and Advances contribute to majority of complaints against NBFCs, followed by non-adherence to FPC, which is also indirectly related to Loans and Advances.

1.14 In addition to the above, marginal movement in a few categories is due to recategorization of ’Grounds’ of complaints in CMS post the launch of RB-IOS. Increase in share of complaints under “Loans and Advances” is contributed by diversion of certain complaints from the ‘BCSBI codes’.

Population group-wise distribution of complaints

1.15 The population group wise receipt of complaints under the Ombudsman Schemes for the past three years is given in the Chart 1.4. Majority of complaints are received from metropolitan regions, followed by Urban and Semi-urban. After launch of RB-IOS with effect from November 12, 2021 there is a decline in complaints received from rural, semi-urban and metropolitan areas, while a substantive spurt in the complaints received from urban areas.

Complainant-type wise receipt of complaints

1.16 The complainant type wise receipt of complaint under the Ombudsman Schemes during the past three years is given in the Table 1.4 below:

1.17 It is seen that individuals constitute close to 80% of complainants. However, complaints from Senior Citizens have risen in percentage terms, even though number of these complaints has come down during 2021-22. It is also observed, as depicted in Chart 1.5, that the complaints received from senior citizens went up during the first six months of the Financial Year and declined appreciably in the later months.

Entity-type wise receipt of complaints

1.18 Entity-type wise receipt of complaints for the past three years under the Ombudsman Schemes is presented in Table 1.5.

1.19 After the launch of RB-IOS, only maintainable complaints are assigned to ORBIOs post initial screening of non-maintainable/ non-complaints at the CRPC. Hence, the complaints closed at the CRPC do not get accounted for as complaints under ORBIOs as per the RB-IOS, 2021. However, the erstwhile Schemes account for all complaints/ references received at the ORBIOs. Hence, the data for 2021-22 is not comparable with previous years.

Disposal of complaints

1.20 The data on disposal of complaints under the Ombudsman Schemes during the past three years, along with their age wise pendency position at the end of the year is given in Table 1.6.

1.21 Observations from the table are that

1. Disposal rate has improved Y-o-Y over the past three years.

2. Pendency of 6,447 complaints with 157 outstanding for more than 3 months was lowest in last three years.

All complaints pertaining to the years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 stand disposed.

Mode of disposal of Maintainable complaints

1.22 Under the Ombudsman Schemes, the majority of complaints are settled through conciliation and mediation efforts by the RBIOs. The mode of disposal of maintainable complaints during the past three years under the Ombudsman Schemes is given in Table 1.7.

Reasons for closure of complaints under non-maintainable clauses

1.23 A total of 1,35,326 (42.62%) of the total handled complaints at ORBIOs were closed as non-maintainable during the year, due to reasons as mentioned in the Ombudsman Scheme. The Chart 1.6 below provides the major reasons for rejection of complaints as non-maintainable.

Receipt of Appeals

1.24 Any complainant/ RE aggrieved by the decision of RBI Ombudsman can appeal before the Appellate Authority (AA) under the scheme/(s), if the complaint is closed under any of the appealable clauses as per the Scheme/(s). While the appellate mechanism under RB-IOS, 2021 remains largely unchanged, cases involving awards passed by the Ombudsmen on REs due to non-submission of requisite information/ documents by the RE, has been made non-appealable by the REs under the RB-IOS, 2021 to ensure more discipline on part of the REs. Further, the Executive Director (ED) in-charge of CEPD has been designated as the Appellate Authority under RB-IOS, 2021 for the complaints receive under RB-IOS. The receipt of appeals under the Ombudsman Schemes during the past three years is given in the Table 1.8.

1.25 The office wise receipt of Appeals under the erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes and RB-IOS during 2021-22 is given in the Appendix 1.2.

Cost of handling a complaint

1.26 During the year 2021-22, the average cost of handling a complaint at the ORBIOs stood at ₹2,895 per complaint, as compared to ₹1,599 per complaint in 2020-21. The increase in cost is primarily due to increase in staff due to the launch of the RB-IOS, setting up of CRPC revamp of CMS and due to the wage revision of RBI employees during the year. The office-wise cost of handling complaints has been provided at Appendix 1.3.

Turn Around Time (TAT) for disposal of complaints

1.27 One of the major factors impacting the level of satisfaction among the complainants is the time taken for redressal of their grievance. Based on the recommendations of the ‘Internal Working Group to review the Ombudsman Schemes’, to improve the TAT of complaints to 30 days in a phased manner, focussed efforts continue to be made in this direction.

1.28 It can be observed from the Chart 1.7 that TAT of complaint redress at ORBIOs has been improving continuously for the past three years. The TAT is expected to improve further with better systems in place streamlining of CRPC and the Contact Centre.

1.29 Further, the dispersion of TAT across complaints has also reduced significantly in the RB-IOS, 2021 as compared to the erstwhile Schemes. Under the old schemes, a total of 2.45 lakh complaints were disposed during 2021-22 with TAT of 46 Days, whereas under RB-IOS, around 66 thousand complaints were disposed with TAT of 38 Days. Granular data is shown using boxplot to reflect the dispersion in TAT in the Chart 1.8⁶ below, indicating lesser dispersion under the new Scheme.

Bank-group wise complaint conversion rate

1.30 Several measures have been taken by RBI to propel the REs to redress complaints effectively and efficiently under their internal grievance redress system and to minimise the need for escalation thereof to the alternate redressal forums, including the RB-IOS. The steps include establishment of IO mechanism in banks to review the partly/ wholly rejected complaints, the issuance of guidelines on Strengthening of grievance redress mechanism in RBI in January 2021, which put in place a system for recovery of the cost of handling complaints under RB-IOS from the outlier banks, and the setting up of the CRPC along with the auto filtering of non-maintainable complaints in the upgraded CMS portal of RBI.

1.31 The complaint conversion rate represents the proportion of complaints received against the concerned bank group at the ORBIOs during the years ended 2021 and 2022, as compared to total volume of complaints received at the banks’ end from their customers. As seen from the Chart 1.9 given below, all bank groups have significantly improved on the conversion rates except Small Finance Banks.

Chapter 2:

Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS) 2006, as amended upto July 01, 2017: Activities during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021

Receipt of complaints

2.1 The BOS, 2006 was administered through 22 Offices of the Banking Ombudsman (OBOs) spread across the country and covering their respective territorial jurisdictions. During April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021, a total of 2,09,196 complaints were received at the OBOs after which the BOS was integrated into the RB-IOS, 2021 with effect from November 12, 2021. The year-wise number of complaints received at OBOs in last three years is given in Table 2.1

2.2 The position of customer complaints handled by OBOs during the year till the launch of RB-IOS, 2021 in November 2021 is tabulated in Table 2.2, along with age-wise pendency position.

2.3 Of the total complaints received by the OBOs, OBO, Kanpur received the maximum number of complaints, followed by Chandigarh and Mumbai. The office wise receipt of complaints under the BOS, 2006 during the period April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 is given in Table 1.2 in Chapter 1.

Mode of receipt of complaints

2.4 During April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021, 89.65% of the total complaints were received through digital modes, including, the 24x7 online CMS portal/ email/ CPGRAMS. A comparative position of the various modes through which the complaints were received is provided in Chart 2.1, with details provided at Appendix 2.1.

Zone-wise distribution of complaints

2.5 The zone wise receipt of complaints received under the BOS 2006 during the period April 1, 2021 – November 11, 2021, is given below in Chart 2.2. The North zone received the highest volume, followed by the West and the South zones. The details of office wise, zone-wise receipt is detailed in Appendix 2.2.

Complainant group-wise classification

2.6 Individual customers constituted close to 80% of the complainants. Senior citizens accounted for 3.43% of the total complaints. The complainant group-wise classification of complaints is given at Appendix 1.4.

Entity type-wise classification

2.7 The entity type-wise classification of complaints received by the OBOs during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 is indicated in Table 2.3.

Category wise receipt of complaints

2.8 The category wise description of complaints received during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 is given in the Table 2.4 below.

Mode of disposal of complaints

2.9 All complaints received during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 were disposed as at the end of the year. The details of complaints disposed is given at Appendix 2.3.

2.10 Of the total complaints handled during the period, 53.09% were ‘Maintainable’ complaints and all the complaints received under BOS, 2006 during the period were disposed as at the end of the year. Majority of the maintainable complaints, viz., 66.11% were resolved through mutual settlement/ agreement, conciliation and mediation efforts of the Ombudsmen.

Grounds for rejection of maintainable complaints

2.11 The grounds for rejection of maintainable complaints and their proportion to total complaints disposed under the BOS during the period April 1, 2021 – November 11, 2021 is given in the Table 2.6 below.

2.12 About 47% of the total complaints were closed as non-maintainable during the period April 1, 2021 – November 11, 2021. The reasons for rejection of complaints as non-maintainable are given in the Chart 2.3.

Appeals against the decisions of the BOs

2.13 A total of 51 Appeals were received under the BOS during the year 2021-22. The details of receipt, disposal and pendency of Appeals as at the end of the year is given in Table 2.7. The Appellate Authority (AA) under the BOS, 2006 as amended upto July 01, 2017 was the DG-in-charge of CEPD. Subsequently, the RB-IOS, 2021, launched in November 2021, has vested the powers of the AA with the ED-in-Charge of CEPD. However, the Appeals that were received against the decisions of the Ombudsmen in terms of the erstwhile BOS, 2006 have been disposed by AA-DG, in accordance with the provisions of BOS 2006.

Chapter 3:

The Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies (OSNBFC), 2018: Activities during April 1, 2021 – November 11, 2021

3.1 The OSNBFC, 2018 was administered through four ONBFCOs located at Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, and New Delhi, which handled complaints of South, East, West and North zones respectively covering the entire country. It has since been repealed with effect from November 12, 2021, the date on which RB-IOS, 2021 came into force.

Receipt of complaints

3.2 During April 1, 2021 – November 11, 2021, 20,439 complaints were received at the ONBFCOs. ONBFCOs handled 22,077 complaints during the reference period, all of which were disposed at the end of the year. The position of customer complaints handled by ONBFCOs is tabulated in Table 3.1 below:

3.3 Of the 20,439 complaints received by the ONBFCOs, ONBFCO, New Delhi received the maximum number of complaints (8,628), which accounted for 42.21% of the total complaints received by the ONBFCOs. Office-wise receipt of complaints at ONBFCOs is given at Table 1.2 in Chapter 1.

Mode of receipt of complaints

3.4 During April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021, 94.17% (19,248) of the complaints were lodged through digital mode using the CMS portal/ email/ CPGRAMS. This reflects the tech-savvy nature of the users of digital financial products who are more comfortable in filing their complaints online as compared to other modes. A comparative position of the various modes through which the complaints were received during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 is depicted in Chart 3.1, with details provided at Appendix 3.1.

NBFC category-wise complaints received

3.5 Of the total complaints received during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021, 5,699 (27.88%) complaints were against Deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-D), while 12,385 (60.59%) complaints were against Non-Deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-ND). The NBFC category-wise classification of complaints received by ONBFCOs during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 is indicated at Table 3.2 and Chart 3.2 below:

Complainant group-wise classification

3.6 Individual customers constituted the largest segment (51.21%) of complainants during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021. Senior citizens accounted for 0.5% of the total complaints. The complainant group-wise classification of complaints is given at Appendix 1.4.

Nature of complaints handled

3.7 Table 3.3 categorizes complaints received on the grounds of deficiency as specified under Clause 8 of the OSNBFC, 2018.

3.8 During April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021, complaints related to non-adherence to FPC constituted the largest share i.e. 61.89% of the total complaints received, followed by non-observance of RBI directions (9.17%) and levy of charges without prior notice (8.27%).

Disposal of complaints

3.9 All complaints received during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 were disposed as at the end of the year. The ONBFCO-wise position of complaints disposed during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 is given at Appendix 3.2.

3.10 The details of the grounds under which the complaints have been disposed as non-maintainable are given in the Chart 3.3. As may be observed, complaints were considered non-maintainable largely due to i) Entity not covered under the OSNBFC ii) First Resort Complaint iii) Earlier dealt by BO.

3.11 The ONBFCO-wise distribution of maintainable and non-maintainable complaints disposed during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 is given at Appendix 3.3.

Mode of disposal of maintainable complaints

3.12 ‘Maintainable’ complaints are those that are made before the NBFCO, relating to the grounds of complaint specified in Clause 8 of the OSNBFC and are otherwise in compliance with the requirements laid down in the Scheme. The Scheme endeavors to promote settlement of complaints by agreement through conciliation and/ or mediation by ONBFCO. If the parties fail to arrive at an acceptable agreement, the NBFCO gives a decision or passes an Award. During April 1, 2021 – November 11, 2021, 12 Awards were issued against NBFCs by the NBFCOs.

3.13 Table 3.4 depicts the way the maintainable complaints were disposed of during the year. Of the maintainable complaints, 70.08% were resolved through agreement and 29.82% were rejected.

Grounds for rejection of maintainable complaints

3.15 The grounds for rejection of maintainable complaints and their proportion to total complaints disposed under the BOS during the period April 1, 2021 – November 11, 2021 is given in the Table 3.5 below.

Appeals against the decisions of the NBFC-O

3.15 The DG-in-Charge of the CEPD, RBI was designated as the AA as per the provisions of the OSNBFC. CEPD provides the Secretariat to the AA. Ten Appeals were received against the decisions of NBFCOs during April 1, 2021 – November 11, 2021, the details of which is given in Table 3.6 below:

Chapter 4:

Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions (OSDT), 2019: Activities during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021

4.1 The OSDT, 2019 was administered through the 22 offices where the Offices of RBI Banking Ombudsman are situated.

Receipt of complaints

4.2 During April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021, 2,281 complaints were received at the Offices of the Ombudsman for Digital Transactions (OODTs). The year-wise number of complaints received at OODTs in last three years is given in Table 4.1.

4.3 During April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021, 2,324 complaints were handled by OODTs, including the complaints from the previous year, of which, 100% complaints were disposed before the end of the year. The position of customer complaints handled by OODTs is tabulated in Table 4.2 below:

4.4 Of the 2,281 complaints received by the OODTs, OODT, Hyderabad received the maximum number of complaints (204), which accounted for 8.94% of the total complaints received by the OODTs, followed by Kolkata (201) and Bengaluru (189). OODT Thiruvananthapuram (10) received the lowest share of complaints with 0.44%. Office-wise receipt of complaints at OODTs is given at Table 4.3 and Appendix 4.1.

Mode of receipt of complaints

4.5 During April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021, 99.87% (2,278) of the complaints were lodged through digital mode using the CMS portal/ email/ CPGRAMS. This reflects the tech-savvy nature of the users of digital financial products who are more comfortable in filing their complaints online, as compared to other modes. Only three complaints were received in physical mode during the period. A comparative position of the various modes through which the complaints were received under OSDT during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 is depicted in Chart 4.1, with details provided at Appendix 4.2.

Zone-wise distribution of complaints

4.6 Under OSDT, the North zone accounted for the maximum number of complaints (28.72%) during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021, followed by the West zone (27.44%) and the South zone (22.75%). The East zone accounted for the lowest share i.e. 21.09% of the total OSDT complaints received. The zone-wise distribution of complaints received is given at Appendix 4.2 and depicted in Chart 4.2 below.

Complainant group-wise classification

4.7 Individual customers constituted the largest segment (77.25%) of complainants during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021. Senior citizens accounted for 1.40% of the total OSDT complaints. The complainant group-wise classification of complaints is given at Appendix 1.4.

Entity type-wise classification

4.8 The entity type-wise classification of complaints received by OODTs during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 is indicated in Chart 4.3 and Table 4.3 below.

4.9 In tune with the size of their network and business among NBPSPs, PPIs had the highest share of complaints accounting for 87.77% of the total complaints, followed by Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU)/ Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) with 2.72% share in total complaints. Other entities accounted for 9.51% of total complaints.

Nature of complaints handled

4.10 Table 4.4 categorizes complaints received on the grounds of deficiency in digital banking services as specified under Clause 8 of the OSDT, 2019.

4.11 During April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021, complaints related to fund transfers/ UPI/ BBPS/ Bharat QR code constituted the largest share i.e. 44.76% of the total complaints received, followed by mobile/electronic fund transfers / mobile/electronic banking (22.97%) and non-reversal of funds due to wrong beneficiary transfer by Payment System Participants (8.37%).

Disposal of complaints

4.12 All complaints received during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 were disposed at the end of the year. The OODT-wise position of complaints disposed during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021 is given at Appendix 4.3.

4.13 The OODT-wise distribution of maintainable complaints is given at Appendix 4.4 respectively.

4.14 The details of the grounds under which the complaints have been disposed as non-maintainable are given in the Chart 4.4 below. As may be observed, complaints were considered non-maintainable largely due to i) the complaints not being represented properly, ii) complaints being FRCs iii) not under the definition of Payment System Participants and digital transaction.

Mode of disposal of maintainable complaints

4.15 ‘Maintainable’ complaints are those that are made before the ODT, relating to the grounds of complaint specified in Clause 8 of the OSDT and are otherwise in compliance with the requirements laid down in the Scheme. The Scheme endeavors to promote settlement of complaints by facilitation or agreement through conciliation and/ or mediation by OODTs. If the parties fail to arrive at an acceptable agreement, the ODT gives a decision or passes an Award. However, no Award was issued during the year under the OSDT.

4.16 Table 4.5 depicts the modes of the disposal of the maintainable complaints during the year. Of the maintainable complaints, 59.65% were resolved through agreement.

Grounds for rejection of maintainable complaints

4.17 The grounds for rejection of maintainable complaints and their proportion to total complaints received during the year are indicated in Table 4.6.

4.18 As may be seen from Table 4.6, the maximum number of rejections were due to complaints ‘not on grounds of complaint referred to in Clause 8 -Clause 13(1)(a)’ of the OSDT.

Age-wise classification of pending complaints

4.19 No complaints received under OSDT was pending as at the end of the year.

Appeals against the decisions of the ODTs

4.20 The DG-in-Charge of the CEPD, RBI is designated as the AA as per the provisions of the OSDT. CEPD provides the Secretariat to the AA. No Appeal was received during April 1, 2021 to November 11, 2021.

Chapter 5:

The Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS), 2021: Activities during November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022

Receipt and handling of complaints at CRPC

5.1 During November 12, 2021, to March 31, 2022, 1,49,419 complaints were received at the CRPC. Of these, 1,07,821 complaints were closed at CRPC as non-complaints/ non-maintainable complaints, while the remaining maintainable complaints were assigned to ORBIOs for further redress. The month-wise receipt of complaints at CRPC during the period shows a steady increase in inflow of complaints to CRPC (Chart 5.1).

5.2 The average Turn Around Time (TAT) for disposal of complaints at CRPC stood at 12 days.

5.3 The details of the grounds under which the complaints have been disposed at CRPC are given in Chart 5.2 below:

Complaints receipt and handling at the ORBIOs

5.4 During November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022, 72,580 complaints were assigned to the ORBIOs for redress both from the CMS portal directly as well as through the CRPC. The ORBIO-wise receipt of complaints, provided at Table 1.2 of Chapter 1, reflects a near equitable distribution of complaints across all the 22 ORBIOs on account of deployment of a pre-specified algorithm in CMS for distribution of complaints among ORBIOs. The ORBIO, Chennai received maximum number of complaints (3,728) followed by ORBIO, Mumbai-II (3,703 complaints) and ORBIO, Ahmedabad (3,698 complaints) during the period, comprising 5.14%, 5.10% and 5.10% respectively of the total RB-IOS complaints received by the ORBIOs. The slight variation in numbers across offices is on account of vernacular complaints that get allocated to the ORBIO in the relevant linguistic region, bypassing the algorithm for allocation of complaints. A comparative position of complaints received by ORBIOs during November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 is given in Chart 5.3.

Mode of receipt of complaints

5.5 The complaints were received by the ORBIOs either directly from the CMS portal or through the CRPC, i.e. complaints received over email and physical modes, including complaints received through the Government of India’s Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), post their initial processing.

5.6 The mode of receipt of complaints that were handled by ORBIOs during November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 is given at Appendix 5.1 and is depicted in the Chart 5.4.

5.7 As can be seen from the above chart, 84.55% of complaints handled by ORBIOs have been received through the digital mode, of which 57.02% were received through the online portal (including complaints received through CPGRAMS) and 27.53% were through emails.

Population group-wise distribution of complaints

5.8 The source of complaints received by ORBIOs continue to be dominated by metropolitan centers (49.27%) under the RB-IOS, 2021, followed by urban centers (31.58%), semi-urban centers (14.26%) and rural centers (4.89%). The population group-wise distribution of complaints during November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 is given in Chart 5.5 below:

Zone-wise distribution of complaints

5.9 Though there was an equitable distribution of complaints among ORBIOs, the complaints received by ORBIOs in North-zone dominated with 34.60% of complaints received during the period, owing to highest number of ORBIOs being located in the North-zone (8 of 22 ORBIOs), followed by West-zone (5 ORBIOs) with 23.76% of complaints.

5.10 However, a shift is observed in the share of complaints received by the South and the East-zones. The East-zone that received lower volume of complaints as compared to the South-zone in the past years under the erstwhile Ombudsman schemes, witnessed a higher receipt, under RB-IOS, 2021, at 21.79% of the total complaints, as compared to 19.84% of complaints received by South-zone (4 ORBIOs).

5.11 The zone-wise distribution of complaints received during November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 is given in Appendix 5.2 and depicted in Chart 5.6.

Complainant group-wise classification of complaints

5.12 Complaints received from individual complainants (excluding senior citizens) accounted for 83.22% of the total complaints received between November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022, followed by 2.92% from limited companies (and 2.65% from the senior citizens). Appendix 1.4 provides the complainant group-wise classification of complaints.

Entity group-wise classification of complaints

5.13 Under the RB-IOS, 2021, the ORBIOs receive complaints against banks, NBFCs and NBPSPs. The entity group-wise classification of complaints received by ORBIOs during November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 is provided in Appendix 5.3 and indicated in Chart 5.7 below:

5.14 The share of complaints against Private Sector Banks remained highest (21,572 complaints) with 29.72% of the total complaints assigned to ORBIOs, closely followed by Nationalized Banks (20,857 complaints) with 28.74% share. The complaints against NBFCs formed 5.83% (4,233 complaints) of the total complaints received by ORBIOs during the period.

Nature of complaints handled

5.15 The RB-IOS, 2021 has done away with specific grounds of complaints and all the complaints pertaining to ‘deficiency in service’⁷ at the regulated entity falling under the Scheme, can be filed under the Scheme. The category/ ground wise classification of the complaints is provided in Table 5.1 below.

Disposal of complaints

5.16 The disposal of complaints received at ORBIOs during November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022 has been indicated in Table 5.2.

5.17 As indicated in Table 5.2 above, the overall disposal of complaints by the ORBIOs, received under RB-IOS, 2021, stood at 91.12%, whereas, of the 8.88% pending complaints, 7.74% were pending for less than one month and only 1.14% of complaints were pending for more than a month as on March 31, 2022, representing the efficiency of the ORBIOs and effectiveness of the role played by CRPC in reducing the flow of non-maintainable⁸ complaints to ORBIOs. All pending complaints as on March 31, 2022 have since been disposed.

Mode of disposal of maintainable complaints

5.18 During the period November 12, 2021 – March 31, 2022, 68.89% of the total complaints closed at the ORBIOs, were disposed as maintainable complaints. The mode of disposal of these maintainable complaints is detailed in the Table 5.3 below:

Grounds for rejection of maintainable complaints

5.19 During the period November 12, 2021 – March 31, 2022, 19,434 maintainable complaints were rejected as per the provisions of the Scheme. The grounds for rejection under RB-IOS, 2021 is detailed in the Table 5.4 below:

Turn Around Time (TAT) of complaints

5.20 The average time taken by ORBIOs to dispose complaints received under RB-IOS, 2021 stood at 38 days.

Awards issued

5.21 During the period November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022, 4 Awards were issued by ORBIOs, of which, two were implemented within the stipulated time, one was appealed by the entity and one got lapsed.

Appeals against the decisions of the ORBIOs

5.22 Under provisions of RB-IOS, 2021, the Executive Director (ED) in-Charge of CEPD, RBI is designated as the Appellate Authority (AA)⁹. In terms of the RB-IOS, the CEPD provides the secretarial assistance to the AA. During the period November 12, 2021 to March 31, 2022, 31 Appeals were received against the decision of ORBIOs and all such Appeals were filed by the complainants (none from REs).

5.23 The position of Appeals handled by the AA during the period and the ORBIO-wise position of Appeals received during the period is given in Tables 5.5 and Appendix 1.2, respectively.

Chapter 6:

Other Developments

Regulations: Important regulatory measures taken by the Reserve Bank

6.1 The most important regulatory development during the period, with implications for customer protection and customer grievance redress was the launch of the RB-IOS, 2021, along with the setting up of the CRPC and Contact Centre at RBI Regional Office, Chandigarh. In addition, the Reserve Bank issued guidelines on: appointment of IO by NBFCs; monitoring availability of cash in ATMs; Tokenisation for card transactions; restriction on storage of actual card data; framework for facilitating small value digital payments in offline mode etc., among others, which have a bearing on customer service aspects. A chronology of the salient measures is given in the Appendix 6.1.

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) of major areas of complaints

6.5 The findings of RCA of the major areas 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 findings of RCA conducted during the year are tabulated below:

Status of implementation of the action plan set out in ‘Utkarsh 2022’ for the year, April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022

6.6 The medium-term strategy of RBI, ‘Utkarsh 2022’, had set three milestones for the year 2021-22 as given below:

1. Formulate policy/scheme for handling complaints not covered under Ombudsman Scheme;

2. Efforts for inclusion of safe banking practices in educational curriculum;

3. Extension of Internal Ombudsman Scheme (IOS) for Financially Sound Well Managed (FSWM) UCBs & RRBs.

Formulate policy/scheme for handling complaints not covered under Ombudsman Scheme

6.7 The CEPCs, set up at 30 Regional Offices of RBI, were handling the complaints that were not covered under the erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes. The policy for CEPCs to handle such non-Ombudsman complaints was formulated and issued in June 2019 in the form of a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which has been revised and issued in June 2022 in the wake of RB-IOS, 2021. Post the launch of RB-IOS, 2021, the CEPCs shall now handle the complaints against REs that are not covered under the RB-IOS, 2021 (i.e., non-scheduled UCBs having deposit size of less than ₹50 crore, NBFCs with asset size below ₹100 crore, All India Financial Institutions, Asset Reconstruction Companies etc.).

Efforts for inclusion of safe banking practices in educational curriculum

6.8 The Department had formulated a detailed framework for enhanced education on consumer protection and safe banking practices in September 2020 with the following components – (i) Target Group, (ii) Content, (iii) Delivery Channels, (iv) Coordination Aspects, and (v) Impact analysis. The framework envisages focused financial education to target groups such as potential entrants to the financial sector, vulnerable consumers, educated but financially illiterate customers, rural youth, workers/migrants, etc. The Department prepared contents on financial awareness and consumer protection for inclusion in the educational curriculum of school students, which has been taken up with the National Centre for Financial Education through the Financial Inclusion and Development Department of RBI.

Extension of the IO Scheme to NBFCs

6.9 In line with the formulation of IO Scheme for banks and Non-bank System Participants (NBSPs), considering the drastic increase in complaints received at RBI, a review was undertaken to consider extending the IO Scheme to select NBFCs. Accordingly, the IO Scheme for NBFCs, issued vide circular dated November 15, 2021, directed Deposit-taking NBFCs (NBFCs-D) with 10 or more branches and Non-Deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-ND) with asset size of ₹5,000 crore or above having public customer interface to appoint IO at the apex of their internal grievance redress mechanism within a period of six months from the date of issue of the direction. The direction covers, inter-alia, the appointment/tenure, role and responsibilities, procedural guidelines, and oversight mechanism for the IO. All complaints that are partly or wholly rejected by the NBFC will be reviewed by the IO before the final decision of the NBFC is conveyed to the complainant.

6.10 NBFCs not having public customer interface and certain types of NBFCs, viz., stand-alone Primary Dealers (PDs), NBFC - Infrastructure Finance Companies (NBFC-IFCs), Core Investment Companies (CICs), Infrastructure Debt Fund – Non Banking Financial Companies (IDF-NBFCs), Non-Banking Financial Company – Account Aggregators (NBFC-AAs), NBFCs under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process, NBFCs in liquidation and NBFCs having only captive customers have been excluded from the requirement to appoint IOs.

Awareness generation activities of CEPD and Ombudsmen Offices

6.11 “Ombudsman Speak” event on the World Consumer Rights Day - As part of the first phase of the nation-wide multi-phased financial awareness campaign being undertaken by CEPD during the year 2022-23, the 22 RBI Ombudsmen interacted with the local/ regional multimedia channels in their respective regions on March 15, 2022 on the occasion of “World Consumer Rights day”. The Ombudsmen covered a wide range of areas such as ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ on RB-IOS, 2021, ‘Charter of Customer Rights’, safe digital banking practices, etc. in order to ensure deeper and focused percolation of the financial consumer awareness on safe banking, RBI’s AGR avenues and extant regulations for protection of consumer interests. The event was undertaken in English, Hindi and vernacular languages and was aired on Doordarshan, All India Radio, FM and local TV channels across all regions/ states of India. These interactions have also been uploaded by media channels on social media platforms such as You Tube, Twitter and Facebook, etc.

6.12 Further, CEPD also conducted digital awareness drives through print/ television advertisements on the RB-IOS, 2021, safe banking practices, RBI regulations on consumer protection etc. Moreover, 175 awareness programmes and 29 townhall 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 by Ombudsmen is provided at Appendix 6.2.

6.13 Further, awareness messages on safe banking practices were hosted on the Reserve Bank website, the ‘RBI Kehta Hai’ webpage and the CMS webpage and included information on ‘cyber frauds’, ‘safe digital banking’, ‘Ombudsman Schemes of RBI’ and the ‘CMS’ portal, etc.

Nationwide Customer Satisfaction Survey for RB-IOS, CRPC and the Contact Center

6.14 Six months post the launch of RB-IOS, 2021, a nationwide customer satisfaction survey was taken up to assess the satisfaction level of the complainants who had approached the RBI Ombudsman for redress of their grievances. Based on a volume of around 3.5 lakh complaints received during a year at the ORBIOs, a sample size of 4,120 was designed stratifying them across states and population groups (i.e. Metropolitan regions, urban, semi-urban, and rural areas). The survey was conducted through a third-party agency through telephonic access. The profile of the respondents for the survey is detailed in the Chart 6.1.

6.15 The major findings from the above survey are:

1. 60.09% of the respondents (who had lodged a complaint both under one of the erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes and the current RB-IOS) felt that the overall process under RB-IOS has improved, including registration, handling of complaint and resolution time;

2. 64.06% of the respondents felt that they were provided with necessary/ relevant/ correct information when they had approached the Contact Centre;

3. The overall satisfaction level of respondents with all the ORBIOs stood at 59.55%;

4. 83.26% of the respondents agreed to have received acknowledgement promptly.

6.17 It is felt that the RB-IOS, 2021 is stabilizing well, with improved systems and efficiency brought in through CRPC and Contact Center. RBI is also intensifying its efforts to increase awareness regarding the RB-IOS, 2021.

Framework for Strengthening the Grievance Redress of banks

6.18 Reserve Bank rolled out the ‘Framework for Strengthening the Grievance Redress of banks’ in January 2021, comprising enhanced disclosures requirements, intensive review of banks’ internal grievance redress mechanism and, supervisory/ regulatory actions against banks having persistent issues in their grievance redress mechanism. The framework introduced recovery of the cost of redressal of complaints at Ombudsmen offices, from the outlier banks to incentivize banks to strengthen their internal grievance redressal systems. The framework is expected to bring improvements in the quality of customer service and grievance redress culture in banks and thus reduce the origination of customer complaints. For the year 2021-22, recoveries to the tune of ₹7.80 crore shall be made from 33 banks.

Winding down of Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI)

6.19 BCSBI was institutionalized based on the recommendation of the Committee on Procedures and Performance Audit of Public Services under the chairmanship of Shri S.S.Tarapore, former DG of RBI. It was registered as an independent and autonomous body under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in February 2006. Upon a review conducted by CEPD, it was concluded that Reserve Bank can, by itself, undertake the activities that were identified for BCSBI; and that the BCSBI had now served the purpose for which it was set up. As such, the need for BCSBI to continue was reviewed based on the directions of the Committee of the Central Board in its meeting dated January 30, 2019 and its dissolution was approved. BCSBI ceased its operations and initiated the dissolution process in late 2019, which was however delayed invariably due to the onset of pandemic in March 2020 hindering the conduct of General Body Meeting with member banks for passing of resolution. However, the same was conducted in September 2021 and the BSCBI is in an advanced stage of dissolution. CEPD has taken up with IBA for future updation of the BCSBI’s Codes, i.e., “Code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers” and “Code of Bank’s Commitment to Micro and Small Enterprises”, and management of the membership of the banks. Documents/ historical records relating to BCSBI are in the process of being archived for future reference.

Way forward

6.20 During the period April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, CEPD will work towards the following action plans:

1. Review of the guidelines issued under “Strengthening of grievance redress framework for banks” in January 2021.

2. Extension of the ambit of the RB-IOS, 2021 to more REs that are not covered presently under the Scheme like Housing Finance Companies (HFC) etc;

3. Extension of IO Scheme for Credit Information Companies (CICs) and HFCs;

4. Intensified awareness initiatives to ensure percolation to the remotest and untouched regions and hitherto, excluded segments of population.

6.21 Appropriate regulatory initiatives regarding financial consumer protection will be further enhanced to identify issues to be addressed and improve the grievance redress mechanism of REs as well as the RBI, and measures for implementation of the framework for financial education shall be improved.

Chapter 7:

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

CPGRAMS

7.1 CPGRAMS is a mechanism to receive and address consumer complaints regarding different products and schemes offered by the GoI or its agencies. The CPGRAMS portal has been developed by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances of GoI. 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.

7.2 During the year, 4,956 complaints were received by all the ORBIOs through CPGRAMS. A comparative position of the complaints received through this portal and handled by the ORBIOs during the last three years is given at Appendix 7.1.

RTI Act, 2005

7.3 The RBI Ombudsmen are the Central Public Information Officers (CPIOs) under the RTI Act, 2005 to receive applications and furnish information related to complaints handled by the ORBIOs. During the year, 1,397 RTI applications were received by all the ORBIOs. The office-wise position of such applications received during the last three years is detailed at Appendix 7.2.

APPENDICES

Appendices pertaining to Activities during April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022

Appendices pertaining to BOS

Appendices pertaining to OSNBFC

Appendices pertaining to OSDT