Consumers' complaints against public sector banks on the rise

Pensioners may soon feel more welcome at public sector bank counters, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked public sector lenders to improvise their pension services. According to an RBI survey on complaints on pension services, 95 per cent were unhappy with the services of public sector banks.

“The area in which the public sector banks have to pay attention is pension services,” RBI said. The total number of complaints on pension for all scheduled commercial banks stood at 5, 810, of which 5,746 were against public sector banks. State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, accounted for 4,000 of the total complaints.

SBI’s profits declined 99 per cent in the last quarter of the previous financial year on account of provisioning for its deferred pension liabilities.

Public sector lenders were also ahead of the Indian banking industry, with respect to complaints. While the number of complaints declined for banks, public sector banks saw a rise in customer complaints. The total number of complaints dropped 12 per cent to 66, 927 in 2010-11, compared to the previous year. For public sector banks, complaints rose two per cent to 42,724.

The central bank has asked foreign and private banks to be more transparent while dealing with customers and to keep a check on complaints against direct selling agents. Public sector banks did not face such complaints.

“Both foreign banks and new private sector banks need to make continuous efforts to improve the quality of services offered by direct selling agents, since as more than 90 per cent of the complaints on direct selling agents were directed at these two groups,” RBI said. These groups needed to promote transparency by informing customers about the different charges levied by them, the regulator said.

At 17, 116, credit and debit card-related complaints accounted for nearly a fourth of the total complaints received.