Banking Ombudsman scheme is a grievance redressal system. If a customer is dissatisfied with the service of the bank then he can approach the Banking ombudsman for further action.

Banking ombudsman scheme to redress the complaints of customers on banking services provided by banks and facilitation of the settlement for those complaints.

In Banking Regulation act 1949 Section 35A says vests power in the RBI to give directions to banks and can take action, “to prevent the affairs of any banking company being conducted in a manner detrimental to the interests of the depositors or in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the banking company”.

There are 22 offices of banking ombudsman (OBOs) in India.

All scheduled commercial banks, RRBs and Scheduled primary Co-operative banks are covered under the scheme.

Appointment and Tenure

Reserve bank may appoint one or more of its officers in the rank of Chief General Manager or General Manager to be known as Banking Ombudsman.

Appointment of Banking Ombudsman may be made for a period not exceeding 3 years at a time

Banking Ombudsman shall send to the Governor, Reserve bank, a report, as on 30th June every year.

Banking Ombudsman Scheme: Grounds of Complaints

Grounds of Complaints are as follows.

1. Non-payment or delay in the payment or collection of cheques, drafts, bills etc.
2. Non-acceptance, without sufficient cause, of small denomination notes/coins tendered for any purpose, and for charging of commission in respect thereof.
3. Delay in payment or Non-payment of inward remittances.
4. Delay in issue or failure to issue of drafts, pay orders or bankers’ cheques.
5. Non-adherence to prescribed working hours.
6. Delay in providing or failure to provide a banking facility promised in writing by a bank or its direct selling agents.
7. Delays, non-payment of deposit or non-observance of the reserve bank directives, if any, applicable to rate of interest on deposits in any savings, current or other account maintained with a bank.
8. Complaints from NRIs having accounts in India in relation to their remittances from abroad, deposits and other bank related matters.
9. Refusal to open deposit accounts without giving any valid reason for it.
10. Levying of charges without adequate prior notice to the customer.
11. Non-adherence to the instructions of RBI on ATM / debit card, prepaid card operations in India by the bank or its subsidiaries on any of the following:
12. Account debited but cash not dispensed by ATMs
13. Account debited more than once for one withdrawal in ATMs or for POS transaction
14. Less/Excess amount of cash dispensed by ATMs
15. Debit in account without use of the card or details of the card
16. Use of stolen/cloned cards
17. Others

   12. Non-adherence by the bank or its subsidiaries to the instructions of Reserve Bank on credit card operations on any of the following:

• Unsolicited calls for Add-on Cards, insurance for cards etc.
• Charging of Annual Fees on Cards issued free for life
• Wrong Billing/Wrong Debits
• Threatening calls/ inappropriate approach of recovery by recovery agents including non-observance of Reserve Bank guidelines on engagement of recovery agents
• Wrong reporting of credit information to Credit Information Bureau
• Delay or failure to review and correct the credit status on account of wrongly reported credit information to Credit Information Bureau.
• Others

   13. Non-adherence to the instructions of RBI regarding mobile banking / electronic banking service in India by the bank on any of the following:

• Delay or failure to effect online payment / Fund Transfer
• Unauthorized electronic payment / Fund Transfer

  14. Non-disbursement or delay in disbursement of pension.

  15. Refusal to accept or delay in accepting payment towards taxes, as required by reserve bank/government.

  16. Refusal to issue or delay in issuing, or failure to service or delay in servicing or redemption of government securities.

  17. Forced closure of deposit accounts without due notice or without reason.

  18. Refusal to close or delay in closing the accounts.

  19. Non-adherence to the fair practices codes as adopted by the bank.

  20. Non-adherence to the provisions of the code of bank’s commitments to customers issued by banking codes and standards board of India and as adopted by the bank.

  21. Non-observance of reserve bank guidelines on the engagement of recovery agents by banks, para-banking activities like sale of insurance / mutual fund /other third-party investment products by banks

 22. Any other matter relating to the violation of the directives issued by the RBI concerning banking or other services.

Procedure for filing complaint

Any person who has a grievance against a bank himself or through his authorized representative (other than an advocate) make a complaint to the banking Ombudsman .

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.

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We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.

We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge