Over 3 lakh complaints were made against banks to the RBI's banking ombudsman in FY20, over 50% more than in FY19. While the share of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in the total complaints reduced in FY20, that of Private Banks (PVBs) increased. Nevertheless, the highest number of such grievances in FY20 were against the PSB behemoth State Bank of India (SBI). Notably, 44.5% of complaints in FY20 were related to digital services, a significant increase from 33% in a FY19 — a consequence of rising digital transactions.
Total complaints
As many as 3.08 lakh complaints against banks were received by the ombudsman in FY20, a 57.5% increase over FY19. The chart shows the number of complaints received from FY18 to FY20.
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Complaint share
The share of complaints made against SBI and other PSBs decreased marginally in FY20 compared to FY19. On the other hand, the share of complaints made against private banks increased significantly
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Digital risk
About 45% of complaints in FY20 were related to digital services such as ATM/debit/credit cards and mobile/electronic transactions. The chart shows the top ten categories under which complaints were made in FY20. Nearly 22% of all complaints were related to ATM/debit cards — the highest among all categories.
Banks involved
The chart plots the 12 number of complaints received and the 10 number of complaints received per branch against all PSBs (in blue) and PVBs (in yellow) in FY20. While among PSBs, the most complaints received were against SBI, among PVBs, the maximum complaints were against the HDFC Bank.
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