RBI asks NBFC to appoint Ombudsman

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed a select few non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to appoint an internal ombudsman to head their respective internal grievance redressal mechanism within next few months of the issue of this notice.

In a statement issued by the RBI on Monday, all deposit taking NBFCs with 10 or more branches as well as non-deposit taking NBFCs with asset size of ₹ 5,000 crore and more and having public client interface, to appoint internal ombudsman at the top of their internal grievance redressal mechanism.

The directive also covers the appointment as well as fixing of tenure, role and responsibilities, procedural instruction and oversight mechanism for the internal ombudsman.

All complaints, which have been partly or wholly rejected by the NBFC, will be reviewed by the ombudsman before the final decision of the NBFC is delivered to the complainant, the RBI statement said.

It is important to note that the internal ombudsman will not accept any complainants directly from members of public.