Karnataka - Madikeri   

RBI wants banks to reach out to the common man

Madikeri: Banking Ombudsman of the Reserve Bank of India M. Palaniswamy said here on Friday that banking had become more people-friendly now and the RBI wanted all commercial banks to reach out to the common man in the country by bringing them under the banking network.

He was addressing a meeting organised at the Lead Bank — Corporation Bank — here to generate awareness on the functioning of the office of Banking Ombudsman (also Banking Lokpal). Banking Ombudsman would investigate complaints by individuals concerning all national banks with regard to lapses in various services being provided to customers, based on their complaints.

Mr. Palaniswamy said that not more than 30 per cent of the population in India was covered under the banking network for various reasons. In the insurance sector, about 20 per cent were covered, and in the capital market area less than 10 per cent were involved. However, the financial inclusion concept introduced in the recent times had had a tremendous impact. Households willing to be covered, regardless of income, could open “no frills” accounts in commercial banks to be part of the banking activity, Mr. Palaniswamy said.

Mr. Palaniswamy advocated the need for all commercial banks to organise customer service committee meetings every month to redress grievances in a phased manner.

He had received over 3,500 complaints from customers across the country last year. This year he had received 1,500 complaints of which 85 per cent had been redressed to the satisfaction of both parties — banks and the customers, he said.

Aggrieved parties could write complaints on plain paper and send them to the RBI, Nrupatunga Road, Bangalore. The complainants need not visit Bangalore, Mr. Palaniswamy said.

The secretary to the Banking Ombudsman’s office, Kulkarni, who gave an account of the functioning of the office, said the Banking Lokpal Act came into being in 2006.

The aggrieved could write to the bank manager and if their complaint was not attended to in 30 days, they could approach the Banking Ombudsman. If some one was not happy with the decision of the ombudsman, such persons could appeal to the RBI Appellate Authority in Mumbai. For higher claims, they could lodge complaints with consumer forums.

Senior officials of Corporation Bank P.V. Narasimha Rao, Jayaram Kamath, Ravishankar, Vijayachandra and the Lead District Manager here, Arunachala Sharma, were present.

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