Nationalised banks top grouse list in Odisha: Ombudsman

They account for 39.08% of all complaints reported by banking ombudsman in its annual report for 2015-16

Nationalised banks having operations in Odisha have topped the complaint list, accounting for 39.08 per cent of the total complaints reported by the banking ombudsman in its annual report for the year 2015-16.

The office of the banking ombudsman had received a total of 3,050 complaints including 1,192 against the nationalised banks excluding State Bank of India and its associates in 2015-16.

The State Bank of India and its associates stood high in the grouse list with 1,054 complaints filed against them by the customers, accounting for 34.56 per cent of the total complaints.

Charges against private sector banks and foreign banks were recorded at 415 ( 13.61 per cent) and 10 (0.33 per cent) respectively. Regional rural banks or scheduled primary urban co-operative banks and others accounted for 8.62 per cent and 3.8 per cent of total complaints.

The ombudsman's office received 3,050 complaints during the year, compared to 2248 received in 2014-15 year. At the end of the year, 3048 cases were disposed off.

Failure on the part of banks to meet commitments, non observance of fair practices code and the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) related complaints accounted for 59.44 per cent, the single largest area of grievances for the customers with 1813 cases. It is followed by card related issues ( 9.8 per cent), loan and advances (4.03 per cent), among others.

The report indicated that people still preferred physical mode of complaint to electronic mode, as 57 per cent complaints were received by way of post. While 37 per cent complaints were received by email, 5.8 percent were lodged via online platform.

The cost per complain was calculated at Rs 5988 for 2015-16.

"In case of nationalised banks, bulk complaints were received during 2015-16 where the business correspondents (BCs) had fled away by taking deposits from the customers for opening of accounts", said Shreedhar Behera, banking ombudsman, Reserve Bank of India.

"With more than 4,000 bank branches in the state having population of over four crore, we are apprehending that many complaints are not reaching us although the number of complaints recorded are 600 more than the previous year", he added.