Now, complainants of dissatisfactory banking facilities from Jharkhand need not to knock doors at Patna office of Banking Ombudsman (BO). The Reserve Bank of India has initiated process to segregate the State from Bihar and stepped in the directions of opening a BO branch in Ranchi.
Informing about this, General Manager and Officer -in-Charge at RBI’s Ranchi Patric Barla said that the service would improve handling of complaints in a better and efficient manner for the customers of the State.
“Our head office had asked us for our consent which we have provided. We have also received a letter about the approval. The process is on and we are expecting that the BO office for Jharkhand would be opened within this year itself,” said Barla on Tuesday.
At present, BO office meant for both the States functions from Patna. latest inputs suggest that during one year i.e. 2015-16 total 5003 complaints were received at this office of which 1284 belonged to Jharkhand. Number of complaint has gone up at the rate of 12.27 per cent in comparison of 2014-15 when it was 4456.
Also present on the occasion was Smita Chandramani Kumar, Banking Ombudsman for the region, who expressed satisfaction over handling of cases coming before the office.
“We got 5003 complaints this year and there were 125 pending cases before us of the previous year. The office has disposed 5035 complaints out of that and just 93 or 1.8 per cent are pending for disposal right now,” said the BO. Out of 1284 cases coming from Jharkhand this year and of the some pending cases, the BO has claimed to have disposed of 1289 during 2015-16.
She also observed based on the data that ATM card related grievances were the largest contributors followed by pension related cases. “ATM cards are the largest single factor for complaints that comprise failed ATM transactions, unauthorised withdrawal using lost or cloned cards, skimming of cards, frequent breakdown or mal-function of ATMs, fraudulent or unauthorised point-of-sale transactions etc. Pension related complaints on account of delay in payment, arrears, incorrect calculation, non-payment of medical allowances etc continued to remain higher side,” said the BO.
Interesting to note that tread to adopt electronic mode for lodging complaints have grown over the years. Nearly 50 per cent of the grievances against the dissatisfactory services provided by the banks are being registered with BO through email and online.
Worryingly the largest banking group of the country SBI has also attracted the largest number of complaints. Out of total 5003 issues raised from the region, the bank along with its subsidiaries figured in 2247 or 44.9 per cent of those.