Page 42 - Banking Finance February 2023

ARTICLE

Scope and Growth in India: may need very short-term loans to smoothen their
cash flow.
In 2022, the penetration rate of Smartphone's in India
reached 58 percent and was estimated to reach 96 In India, MSME's account for about 95% of the country's
percent in 2040, more than doubled from the financial industrial units but have not been covered by
year 2016, when only 22 per cent of the mobile conventional banks. Neo-Banks give this MSMEs access
subscribers were using Smartphone's. to financial services through a formal banking and credit
system.
With the Smartphone's penetration in India set to grow
multifold in the coming years, there is a vast scope of The prime factor driving the growth of Neo-Banks in
growth for Neo-Banks in India. Neo-Banks target three India is that traditional banks are yet unable to offer
main classes of customers: the range of services they offer safely and effectively
The high-end consumers are always on the lookout on a digital platform. Going ahead, Neo-Banks are only
for a better seamless experience that aligns across going to get bigger and better with improvements in
all their digital touch points, be it Apple, Amazon, technology. Already Neo-Banks have real-time data and
Facebook etc. lego-blocks like architecture, making it very easy to roll
The under banked customers who don't have out new features and products.
access to quality banking and have unstable,
What is interesting is that it is the customers that are
irregular incomes yet can benefit from a digital driving this wave of change in the business of banking
financial platform.
as they become more demanding about the experience
Customers with special needs, such as independent and the value, they expect from their banking
contractors, freelancers, Uber, Ola drivers, etc., experience.

Complaints received under ombudsman schemes rises

9.39%
The volume of complaints received under the Reserve Bank of India’s ombudsman schemes and consumer education
and protection cells stood at 4,18,184 in 2021-22, an increase of 9.39 per cent compared to the previous year. In the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, close to 3,82,292 complaints were received.
Of the total complaints received in 2021-22, about 42 per cent were related to the digital modes of payment and
transactions, according to the annual report of Ombudsman Schemes, 2021-22, released by the RBI.
Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS) was launched on November 12, 2021. The three erstwhile
ombudsman schemes of RBI – the Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 2006; the Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking
Financial Companies, 2018; and the Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions, 2019 were integrated with RB-IOS
with effect from November 12, 2021.
Of the total complaints received in the previous fiscal, 3,04,496 were handled by the 22 Offices of RBI Ombudsman
(ORBIOs), including the complaints received under the three erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes till November 11, 2021,
the annual report showed.

The rate of disposal of complaints by RBIOs improved to 97.97 per cent in 2021-22 from 96.59 per cent in 2020-21.
Majority (63.63 per cent) of the maintainable complaints were resolved through mutual settlement or conciliation or
mediation, it said.
During the fiscal 2022-23, the RBI said it will review the guidelines on ‘Strengthening of grievance redress framework
for banks’ issued in January 2021. It will also extend the RBI–IOS, 2021 and Internal Ombudsman Scheme to more
regulated entities that are not covered presently.

36 | 2023 | FEBRUARY | BANKING FINANCE