Page 20 - Banking Finance February 2022

LEGAL UPDATE

rial has been placed on record, the "The volume of complaints received under the three Ombudsman Schemes.
court observed. under all the three Ombudsman The number of complaints received un-
Even otherwise, it is a settled legal Schemes increased by 22.27 per cent der OSNBFC and OSDT stood at 8.89 per
position that undervaluation cannot be on an annualised basis and stood at cent and 0.98 per cent respectively of
3,03,107 during the reported period," the total number of complaints.
a ground for seizure of goods in tran-
RBI said in a statement.
sit by the inspecting authority, it said. The major areas of complaints cov-
As such, the court quashed the confis- The banking regulator released the ered) ATM/debit cards, mobile/elec-
cation proceedings initiated by the GST Annual Report of the Ombudsman tronic banking and credit cards, and
authorities. It ordered the vehicle and Schemes for 2020-21 which has been collectively accounted for 42.74 per
goods to be released at the earliest prepared for the nine-month period cent, compared to 44.65 pc in the pre-
and handed over to the petitioners. July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 in line vious year. Under the OSNBFC, major
with the change in the RBI's financial areas of complaints were non-adher-
year from 'July-June' to 'April-March.' ence to fair practices code, non-obser-
Volume of complaints un-
The annual report covers the activities vance to RBI directions and levy of
der Ombudsman Schemes under the Banking Ombudsman charges without prior notice account-
up Scheme (BOS), Ombudsman Scheme ing for 75.32 per cent of the com-
Consumer complaints under the Re- for Non-Banking Financial Companies plaints as compared to 63.23 per cent
serve Bank of India (RBI)'s ombudsman (OSNBFC) and Ombudsman Scheme for in the previous year.
schemes jumped 22 per cent in FY21, Digital Transactions (OSDT). The major areas of complaints covered
the bulk of them related to debit The BOS accounted for 90.13 per cent ATM/debit cards, mobile/ electronic
cards, online banking and credit cards. of total complaints (273,204) received banking and credit cards.

Banking complaints rose by 22% in FY21

The Reserve Bank of India saw a 22.3% jump in consumer complaints under the various Ombudsman schemes for the
fiscal year 2020-21, bulk of them related to debit cards, online banking and credit cards. The banking regulator re-
leased the Annual Report of the Ombudsman Schemes for 2020-21 which has been prepared for the nine- month
period from 1 July 2020 to 31 March 2021, in line with the change in RBI's financial year from July-June to April-
March. The Annual report covers the activities under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme, Ombudsman Scheme for
non-banking financial companies (OSNBFC) and Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions (OSDT). Banking Om-
budsman accounted for 90.13% of complaints whereas OSNBFC accounted for 8.89% and OSDT accounted for 0.97%
of the complaints during FY21.
The banking ombudsman for instance received 2.73 lakh complaints during FY21, lower than 3.08 lakh complaints
received during the previous year. The complaints related to ATM/debit cards transactions, mobile and electronic
banking and credit cards accounted for 42.7% during the fiscal year 2020-21 compared to 44.65% in the previous
year. OSNBFC on the other hand, saw a 38.7% jump in complaints, having received 26,957 complaints during the
FY21 compared to 19,432 complaints in the previous year. Under OSNBC, majority of the complaints related to non-
adherence to FPC, non-observance to RBI directions and levy of charges without notice accounting for 75.32% of the
complaints as compared to 63.23% in the previous year.
"The disposal rate improved significantly from 92.36% during July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 to 96.67% during July 1,
2020 to March 31, 2021, a five-year high, despite the volume of complaints handled being higher than the previous
year on an annualized basis, and the human resources remaining the same, which can be attributed to end to-end
digitization of complaint processing in CMS," said RBI in its report. During FY21, complaints related to fund transfers/
UPI/ BBPS/ Bharat QR code constituted the largest share accounted for 51.15% of the total complaints received,
followed by mobile/electronic fund transfers / mobile/electronic banking at 22.57% and non-reversal of funds due to
wrong beneficiary transfer by System Participants at 8.18%.

20 | 2022 | FEBRUARY | BANKING FINANCE