MUMBAI: With the system-wide customers complaints rising by a steep 13.55% to 1.33 million in FY25 from 1.18 million in FY24, Reserve Bank deputy governor Swaminathan J has urged internal ombudsmen of regulated entities to identify recurring issues, undertake root-cause analysis and implement remedial measures.
Addressing the annual conference of internal ombudsmen here, he asked internal ombudsmen (IOs) to deliver "meaningful, fair and effective" resolution of customer complaints while identifying recurring issues, undertaking root-cause analysis and helping implement remedial measures, according to his speech delivered on July 13 here and shared by the central bank today, July 20.
According to the latest data from the Reserve Bank’s integrated ombudsman scheme, total customer complaints jumped by 13.55% to 1.33 million in FY25 from 1.18 million in FY24.
In terms of customer complaints private sector banks fared worse than their public sector peers with total complaints received by them hitting 1,11,119 in FY25, while public sector banks only received 1,03,117 complaints. RBI received these through the office of the RBI ombudsman and the centralised receipt and processing centre.
The office of the RBI ombudsman received 2,96,000 complaints in FY25, up 0.82% from the previous year. Of these, banks accounted for the largest share of 2,42,000 complaints (81.53%), followed by NBFCs with 43,864 complaints or 14.80%.
Swaminathan, the commercial-banker-turned-central-banker who got a two-year extension last month also said and is now in-charge of banking regulation and supervision, said, "an effective IO mechanism should reduce external escalation" and urged boards and senior management of banks and other lenders to empower the IO mechanism and use its insights to strengthen customer service and grievance redress, which he feels should not be treated as a cost but as an occasion of learning.
The conference was attended by internal ombudsmen from banks, non-banking financial companies, credit information companies and other regulated entities, along with managing directors, chief executive officers, executive directors overseeing customer service, principal nodal officers, RBI ombudsmen and senior RBI officials.
Discussions focused on recent developments in grievance redress, regulatory expectations and insights from the RBI Ombudsman framework, with an emphasis on improving the speed and quality of complaint resolution while addressing systemic shortcomings.