RBI to launch 2-month drive to clear complaint backlog as Ombudsman pendency rises

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra

To bolster consumer protection and improve service standards across the financial sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on December 5 announced a two-month grievance resolution campaign to address the growing pile of complaints with its ombudsman.

The initiative, announced by RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra along with the monetary policy decision on December 5, will run from January 1 to February 28, to clear every complaint pending for more than a month.

Malhotra said the central bank has taken a large number of measures to improve customer services, citing Re-KYC, financial inclusion and the “Aapki Poonji, Aapka Adhikar” campaigns.

RBI services have been fully digitised and application summaries on disposal and pendency are published on the first of every month, he said.

Malhotra has flagged that while over 99.8 percent of applications are resolved within the stipulated period, the recent spike in submissions has stretched the system, resulting in a noticeable build-up of unresolved cases.

The campaign aims to reduce this pressure and ensure swifter, more effective redressal for customers.

Malhotra said all regulated entities, including banks, non-bank lenders, and other financial intermediaries, must embed customer-centricity in their policies, day-to-day processes, and service standards.

The RBI will release monthly reports on pending and resolved complaints and has updated its Citizens’ Charter earlier this year to enhance transparency and accountability, starting December 2025.

The RBI ombudsman

The Reserve Bank–Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, launched on November 12, 2021, consolidated three grievance redressal schemes including the Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 2006; the Ombudsman Scheme for NBFCs, 2018 and the Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions, 2019.

The scheme allows customers to seek cost-free resolution of service deficiencies by any RBI-regulated entity when their complaint is either unresolved for 30 days or inadequately addressed.

When the RBI launched the ombudsman mechanism, it said it intended to dispose of all complaints that have been pending for over 30 days, enhance the pace and quality of grievance resolution, ensure quicker responses from regulated entities, and strengthen customer-first practices across the financial ecosystem.

The push comes at a time when digital adoption in banking and payments is rising rapidly, resulting in more frequent disputes over failed transactions, fraudulent activity, mis-selling, and customer service lapses.