Integrated Ombudsman Scheme

On 12th November, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (IOS).

• It aims to improve the grievance redress mechanism for resolving customer complaints against entities such as banks, NBFCs and payment service operators regulated by the RBI.

The scheme integrates the existing three Ombudsman schemes of RBI:

1. The Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 2006
2. The Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies, 2018
3. The Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions, 2019.

Need: There was a need to merge the three schemes as they had evolved over different periods of time, and had specified grounds of complaints which acted as a limiting factor. The separate schemes led to uneven redress across the customers of different entities, and had different compensation structures.

Salient Features

• It entails a ‘One Nation One Ombudsman’ approach.
• It will also include non-scheduled Primary Co-operative Banks with a deposit size of Rs.50 crore and above.
• The Scheme defines ‘deficiency in service’ as the ground for filing a complaint, with a specified list of exclusions.
• A Centralized Receipt and Processing Centre has been set up at RBI, Chandigarh for receipt and initial processing of physical and email complaints in any language.
• The Executive Director-in charge of Consumer Education and Protection Department of RBI would be the Appellate Authority under the Scheme.

Significance

• It will enable the customers to file their complaint from anywhere at any time through portal or email, or through physical mode at one point of receipt, without the need to identify any specific ombudsman or scheme.
• This will benefit customers in getting speedy resolution of their grievances.
• An effective grievance redressal mechanism will promote customer confidence in the country’s digital infrastructure, especially among the marginalised and the rural populace.