How many days does the directive suggest for the auto-escalation of complaints to the Internal Ombudsman (IO) if they are partly or wholly rejected by the RE's internal grievance redress mechanism?

Solution

Regulated entities (REs) and their Internal Ombudsman (IOs) should ensure that a final decision is communicated to customers within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of complaint. This directive is aimed at improving consumer grievance redress within the regulated entities, besides improving customer service standards. Further, REs (banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies, Non-bank System Participants and Credit Information Companies) may appoint one or more Internal Ombudsman (IO) and Deputy Internal Ombudsman (DIO) depending on the volume of complaints received by them. In its Master Direction on “Internal Ombudsman for Regulated Entities”, RBI said a RE should establish a fully-automated Complaints Management Software wherein all complaints that are partly or wholly rejected by the RE’s internal grievance redress mechanism are auto-escalated to the IO within 20 days of receipt for a final decision.