The office of the Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) Ombudsman, Chennai, received 5,845 complaints during the period from July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. They accounted for 21.68% of the 26,957 complaints received across India, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s annual report of ombudsman schemes, 2020-21.
The annual report for the transition year 2020-21 has been prepared for the nine-month period (from July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021) in alignment with the change in the financial year of the Reserve Bank from July-June to April-March with effect from July 1, 2020, it said.
Due to the transition period, the report compares data for the period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, as against the number reported in the previous financial year (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020).
On this basis, the office of the NBFCs Ombudsman, Chennai, received 7,600 complaints during April-March 2020-21, 130.30% higher than 3,300 complaints in the comparable period.
The Reserve Bank of India notified the ombudsman scheme on February 23, 2018. It was applicable to both deposit-taking and non-deposit-taking NBFCs having customer interface with an asset size of ₹100 crore and above. The scheme is administered through the centres in Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi for handling complaints received in the respective zones.
The Chennai Office handled 6,462 complaints (including those brought forward from the previous years) and 6,278 complaints were disposed of, amounting to a disposal rate of 97.15% for July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. During the period, maintainable complaints of 4,147 were disposed of. Overall the number of complaints against NBFCs increased 38.72% during July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, from 19,432 received during July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. Of the complaints received during July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, 93.66% were filed electronically.
Complaints related to non-adherence to Fair Practices Code accounted for 54.75% of the total, followed by non-observance of RBI directions, at 11.13%, and levy of charges without notice, 9.44%.
Meanwhile, under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme, Chennai received 19,697 complaints during April-March 2020-21, up 11.13% from 17,724 during July-June 2019-20. Under the Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions, Chennai received 124 complaints in July-March 2020-21. For the purpose of comparison, the complaints rose 12.03% to 149 in April-March 2020-21 from 133 in July-June 2019-20.
An Integrated Ombudsman Scheme was launched on November 12, on the basis of a ‘one nation-one ombudsman’ approach, for all customers of entities regulated by the RBI.
