Complaints to RBI ombudsman rise 13 pc in FY25; pvt sector banks witness jump in grievances

Mumbai, Dec 1 (PTI) The Reserve Bank on Monday said there was a 13 per cent jump in the consumer complaints received under the Ombudsman scheme in FY25.

There seemed to be a surge in grievances against private sector lenders and also small finance banks, the central bank said in a report.

In FY25, the Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman Scheme received 13,34,244 complaints, which were higher than the 11,75,075 in FY24.

However, the growth in consumer complaints has more than halved from 33 per cent in FY24, the central bank said.

As per the Annual Report of the Reserve Bank - Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2021, the 24 Offices of the RBI Ombudsman (ORBIOs) received 2,96,321 complaints, it said.

Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre (CRPC) received 9,11,384 complaints, out of which 1,08,331 and 10,589 complaints were sent to the two dozen Offices of the RBI Ombudsman (ORBIOs) and the Consumer Education and Protection Cells (CEPCs), respectively, for further processing and redressal.

The remaining 7,76,336 complaints were disposed of as non-complaints/non-maintainable complaints at the CRPC, it said, adding that as of March 31, 2025, 16,128 complaints were pending for disposal at the CRPC.

Among various categories of grievances, complaints related to loans and advances were the highest in FY25, followed by complaints related to credit cards, which became the second-highest contributor to complaints, the RBI said.

Interestingly, complaints related to mobile/electronic banking received by Offices of the RBI Ombudsman decreased by 12.74 per cent year-on-year.

Complaints against the banks formed the largest portion at 2,41,601 complaints, accounting for 81.53 per cent of complaints received by the ORBIOs, followed by NBFCs at 43,864 complaints accounting for 14.80 per cent during FY25, it noted.

Among banks, the share of complaints received against private sector banks was the highest and increased to 37.53 per cent in FY25 from 34.39 per cent in FY24.

The state-owned banks witnessed an 8.45 per cent decrease in the complaints to ORBIOs, while the same for private sector lenders was up by 10 per cent, and the SFBs were up 42 per cent on a lower base, the annual report said. PTI AA BAL BAL