In a statement the Reserve Bank of India said that it has received 3,535 complaints against cooperative banks by the ORBIOs (RBI Ombudsman) during the 1st April 2022-31st March 2023.
It bears recalling that the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS), 2021 (the Scheme) was launched on November 12, 2021 by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
The complaints were related to ATM/Debit Cards, Mobile/Electronic Banking, Credit Cards, Loans and Advances, Pension Payments, Para Banking, notes and coins and others.
Besides, 1,02,144 and 73,764 total complaints were received against Public Sector Banks and Private Sector Banks during the 2022-23 respectively. The majority of complaints were received against State Bank of India from the PSU category and ICICI Bank Limited from the Private bank category. The complaints against foreign banks received were 5,639.
The RBI annual report further added that during the year 2022-23, the total number of complaints received by the ORBIOs and CRPC were 7,03,544 as against 4,18,184 complaints during 2021-22, showing an increase of 68.24%.
Of these, 2,34,690 complaints were handled by the ORBIOs and 4,68,854 complaints were disposed of at the CRPC. The complaints disposed of at the ORBIOs had on average a Turnaround Time (TAT) of 33 days during 2022-23, which showed a significant improvement from 44 days during 2021-22.
Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS) acts as part of the Alternate Grievance Redress (AGR) Framework of RBI for resolving customer grievances in relation to services provided by the Regulated Entities of Reserve Bank in an expeditious and cost-effective manner.
It may be needed to know that in the current financial year till 29th February 2024, RBI has cancelled the banking license of 24 urban cooperative banks.
Earlier, in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad informed that the RBI imposed 176 penalties worth Rs 14.04 crore on cooperative banks during the 2022-23 financial year.
The Union Minister of State for Finance said that during the last nine years, fifty-seven banks were closed out of which 55 are cooperative banks and three banks including PMC Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank and Yes Bank were revived.