RBI ombudsman gets most cases against SBI group in North East

The Reserve Bank today said its ombudsman section has received highest number of complaints against public sector lenders SBI and its associate  banks, followed by United Bank and UCO Bank in the last fiscal from the North Eastern region.

HDFC Bank topped the chart of the private sector  banks, followed by Axis Bank and ICICI, against whom RBI received most number of grievances in 2012-13.

"People have highest complaints against SBI and its group banks in North East.

It is followed by United Bank and UCO bank in the  public sector," RBI Banking Ombudsman (North East) Anand Prakash told reporters here.

In 2012-13, RBI's banking ombudsman division  received a total of 807 complaints from seven states -- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura.

Out of that, 379 cases are against the SBI group, while 72 cases are against UBI and 49 cases are against UCO Bank.

When asked about the private sector, RBI Banking Ombudsman Secretary Awadhesh Kumar Kureel said: "Every year, we get highest number of complaints against HDFC and Axis Bank.

In last fiscal, 36 cases are against HDFC Bank, while 34 are against Axis Bank.

They are followed by ICICI with 26 complaints in the North East.

"State-wise, Assam tops with 617 complaints, followed by 43 cases each in Meghalaya and Tripura. Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland has witnessed 24, 19 and 15 complaints, respectively."

The least number of complaints were seen from Mizoram with only 7 cases in 2012-13.

Last fiscal's total number of complaints, which was 807, has seen a rise of 14 per cent over the previous year's 708 complaints in the region.

"We are trying to aware the people about this facility. There is comparatively less awareness so far in this region, but people are getting aware. So we are seeing a rise in cases, which is a positive sign," Prakash said.

He, however, said the total number of cases in this region is very less compared to the national total of around 72,000 complaints in 2011-12.

In North East, 400 complaints are handled by every person in comparison to the national average of 2,000 cases.

Elaborating on the nature of complaints, Prakash said issues relating to different card like credit, ATM, debit, failure of commitment, pension and deposit accounts topped.

"Out of all the cases, we have only 82 cases are pending as on June 30 this year and the oldest case is just less than one month," he said, adding they normally try to solve the cases conciliation.

The Banking Ombudsman division, which is a quasi judicial body, has 15 offices across the country.