Powers of the RBI Banking Ombudsman This is slightly off-topic, but i felt it is in place to narrate my pleasant experience with the RBI banking ombudsman, Bangalore. It might be of help to people hesitant about approaching the ombudsman in order to get banking disputes resolved.
An inward remittance of about 1 lac handled by ICICI Bank, to be deposited in UTI Bank, never made it. Well, at least not for about 10 months. During this time i tried to escalate this to ICICI and UTI bank authorities in a number of ways, but they always told me off by requesting something from the other bank. About 35 long emails were wasted on this already.
Finally, i approached the banking ombudsman. I wasn't very sure whether this would be of any help; it was like a last ditch effort. The ombudsman heard me out during a one-on-one meet at his office in the RBI Bangalore HO, enlisted the requisite documents and assured me that this will only take a stern telephonic rap from him!
And lo... in a matter of 2 weeks or so, the money reflected in my account, interest and penalty inclusive, and was followed up by an apology letter from ICICI (it seemed like ICICI was not at fault, UTI was, but i had no inclination left to probe that).
From the moment i met the banking ombudsman, i was quite confident that my job would be done. |