BackEconomy and Politics | Rural consumers getting vocal against bad banking services
Economy and Politics | Rural consumers getting vocal against bad banking services
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Mumbai: Consumers in rural India are showing increasing awareness of their rights when it comes to banking service. The annual report of the Indian central bank’s banking ombudsman office says complaints from rural areas constituted 32% of the total 79,266 complaints received in 2009-10. For the rest, complaints by metropolitan customers account for 34% and that of urban and semi-urban areas 20% and 14%, respectively.
Rural complaints have gone up by 80% while metros have shown 9% decline in such complaints in fiscal 2010.
“The number of complaints increased mainly due to awareness campaigns carried out by the banking ombudsmen and various proactive measures taken by the Reserve Bank," a central bank release said.
Over all, in 2010, the number of complaints rose 15% from the previous year. Chennai accounted for the maximum number of complaints at 16.10%, followed by New Delhi at 15.20%, Mumbai at 13.7% and Kanpur at 9.9%.
An increase in online complaints and ATM/credit card related complaints during 2009-10 “were indicative of the increasing use of technology by customers for availing banking services as also for seeking redressal of their grievances," the RBI release said.
Like previous years, credit cards related complaints where the highest among all at 24% of total complaints. This was followed by ’failure to meet commitments made’ at 15%; complaints related to loans and advances were 8%; remittance related complaints at 7%; deposits related complaints 5% and pension related complaints was at 6%.
The ombudsman office of the Reserve Bank effectively addressed 94% of the total complaints received against 87% in the previous year, the release said.
Anup Roy
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Nine die in cracker unit blast in Kerala
Nine die in cracker unit blast Nine persons were killed and several injured when a cracker unit near Shoranur in Palakkad district of Kerala caught fire on Tuesday evening. A series of explosions took place in three sheds of the unit, functioning in the area for more than 20 years. It engages around 30 people to make crackers for temple festivals. The cause for the fire is still unknown and charred bodies in splinters were found around the area. The deceased have yet to be identified.
Staff Writer
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