Guv raises concerns over nature of complaints against private banks

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday expressed disappointment at the nature of customer complaints against private sector lenders and the observations seen in the regulator's inspection reports. Das, who was speaking at the Conference of Directors of Private Sector Banks in Mumbai, said he had come across instances of customer complaints not being given due redressal by banks. Das also urged the boards of private sector banks to minutely look into these issues.

"It is disheartening to see the nature of some of the complaints and the observations in our inspection reports," Das said. "There are instances where complaints are misclassified as customer queries. We also come across instances of rejected grievances not being escalated to the internal ombudsman of banks. I would like to urge the boards and their customer service committees to closely look into these aspects to ensure that banks have a genuine commitment to customer centricity."

Das appealed to board members at private banks to give a close look at service charges and penalties when they are treated as avenues of profit. The governor urged the boards to look into issues of forced bundling of products and disclosures to customers being non-transparent or selective.