In a first, complaints against private banks exceed PSBs in FY25

Private banks drew more complaints than state-owned lenders for the first time in FY25, as overall grievances under RBI's Ombudsman Scheme rose sharply

For the first time, complaints against private lenders under the Reserve Bank of India’s Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS) exceeded those against public-sector banks (PSBs) in FY25. According to data released by the central bank, private banks received 111,119 complaints during the year, compared with 103,117 complaints against PSBs.

 

Total complaints increased by 13.55 per cent to 1.33 million in FY25, up from 1.18 million in FY24. The RBI received these through the Office of the Reserve Bank of India Ombudsman (ORBIO) and the Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre (CRPC).

 

ORBIO received 296,000 complaints in FY25, a rise of 0.82 per cent over the previous year. Of these, banks accounted for the largest share at 242,000 complaints (81.53 per cent), followed by NBFCs with 43,864 complaints (14.80 per cent).

 

Among banks, the share of complaints against private lenders was the highest, increasing from 34.39 per cent in FY24 to 37.53 per cent in FY25. Meanwhile, complaints against PSBs, which was the highest in FY24, declined from 38.32 per cent to 34.80 per cent.

 

In FY25, complaints related to loans and advances were the highest at 52,427. Credit card–related complaints surged 20.04 per cent to 50,811 to become the second-largest category. Complaints related to mobile and electronic banking stood at 49,951, accounting for 16.86 per cent of the total. However, this was 12.74 per cent lower than a year earlier.

 

Chandigarh, the NCT of Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan were the top contributors to complaints at ORBIOs in terms of complaints per 100,000 accounts (deposit and credit). Mizoram, Nagaland, Ladakh, Manipur, and Meghalaya reported the lowest complaint ratios in FY25.