Identify recurring complaints: RBI DG Swaminathan to internal ombudsmen

RBI Deputy Governor Swaminathan J has urged internal ombudsmen to identify recurring complaints, conduct root-cause analysis and help strengthen grievance redress across regulated entities

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Swaminathan J on Monday urged internal ombudsmen (IOs) of regulated entities to identify recurring issues, undertake root-cause analysis and implement remedial measures during the annual conference of Internal Ombudsmen.

 

At the conference, Swaminathan J asked IOs to deliver "meaningful, fair and effective" resolution of customer complaints while identifying recurring issues, undertaking root-cause analysis and helping implement remedial measures.

 

He also said that "an effective IO mechanism should reduce external escalation" and urged boards and senior management to empower the IO mechanism and use its insights to strengthen customer service and grievance redress.

   

The conference brought together internal ombudsmen from banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), credit information companies (CICs) and other regulated entities, along with managing directors, chief executive officers, executive directors overseeing customer service, principal nodal officers, RBI ombudsmen and senior RBI officials.

 

Discussions focused on recent developments in grievance redress, regulatory expectations and insights from the RBI Ombudsman framework, with an emphasis on improving the speed and quality of complaint resolution while addressing systemic shortcomings. RBI Executive Director Sonali Sen Gupta also held an open-house interaction with participants on ways to further strengthen the Internal Ombudsman framework.

 

According to the Reserve Bank of India's Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS) data for FY25, total complaints increased by 13.55 per cent to 1.33 million in FY25 from 1.18 million in FY24. Private sector banks received 111,119 complaints during the year, while public sector banks received 103,117 complaints. RBI received these through the Office of the RBI Ombudsman (ORBIO) and the Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre (CRPC).

 

ORBIO received 296,000 complaints in FY25, up 0.82 per cent from 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).