RBI received 1.7 lac complaints against Banks from Public, Check more details revealed by RBI
On December 27, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its report on the trend and progress of banking in India, revealing a notable increase in customer complaints during the 2022-23 fiscal year. The majority of grievances pertained to issues related to ATMs, debit cards, and credit cards.
Complaints Received
Public sector banks registered a substantial number of complaints, totaling 102,144 through the banking ombudsman. Within this, 22,817 complaints were specifically centered around ATM and card-related issues. In parallel, private sector banks received 73,764 complaints, with 25,085 addressing similar concerns. Foreign banks accounted for 3,182 complaints within this category.
An intriguing observation from the report was the rise in the share of complaints in the top five categories, namely loans and advances, mobile/electronic banking, deposit accounts, and card-related issues. This share increased from 54.7% in 2021-22 to a significant 85.8% in 2022-23.
RBI’s Measures to Handle Grievances:
To address these challenges, the RBI has actively implemented measures to strengthen both internal grievance redressal systems within banks and external ombudsman schemes. The Internal Ombudsman mechanism, initiated by the RBI in 2015 initially in select commercial banks, has been expanded to include select non-bank issuers of pre-paid instruments, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and all credit information companies.
Furthermore, the RBI’s BP Kanungo Committee recently proposed additional measures to enhance customer services, including simplifying know-your-customer (KYC) norms and streamlining the settlement process for accounts of deceased depositors.
Resilience and Growth Amid Challenges:
Despite the surge in customer complaints, the report highlighted the resilience and growth of the Indian banking system and NBFCs. These institutions exhibited high capital ratios, strengthening asset quality, and robust earnings growth. The gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio stood at a mere 3.2 percent in the first half of 2023-24, indicating an improvement in asset quality.
The report emphasized the importance of enhanced customer service empathy and fortified balance sheets to guard against fraud and data breaches. It serves as a reminder that as banking systems evolve and grow, a corresponding commitment to customer service and security is imperative.
This is a very good initiative of the Rbi to ensure the satisfaction of customers. Errant staff are hopefully pulled up for their lackadaisical attitude towards customers. Time errant staffers are taken to task.
Out of all banks Union Bank of India is the most lethargic bank among Nationalised banks.Even a RTI application is not entertained properly.Even though instructions prevail to give pensioners pension slips, no adherence from this bank.TDS is deducted and the details are not properly reflected.When the Branch manager is approached his answer is that Centralised pension processing center is not working properly.