Redressal of Customers' Grievances

POLICY FOR CUSTOMER GRIEVANCES REDRESSAL

1.1 Customer Service Committee of the Board shall formulate a Comprehensive Deposit Policy incorporating the issues such as the treatment of death of a depositor for operation of his account, the product approval process, the annual survey of depositor satisfaction and the triennial audit of such services. The Committee shall examine the quality of customer service being rendered and also review the functioning of Standing Committee on Customer Service.

1.2 The Bank will constitute a Standing Committee on Customer Service chaired by the CMD/ED of the Bank. Besides, two to three senior executives of the bank, the committee will also have two to three eminent non-executives drawn from the public as members. The standing Committee on Customer Service will have the following function :

• The committee will evaluate and review comments/feed-back on customer service and implementation of Code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers as received from BCSBI.

• The committee will ensure that all regulatory instructions regarding customer service are being followed by the bank and will obtain necessary feed back from the Zonal / functional heads.

• The committee will also offer their advice to the unresolved complaints/grievances referred to them by the functional heads.

• The committee will submit its report on the performance to the customer service committee of the board on quarterly basis.

1.3 The Nodal Officer of the rank of General Manager designated by the Bank will monitor implementation of customer service and complaint handling mechanism for the entire Bank. Officers handling complaints/grievances at Zonal Offices in respect of branches under their control will be designated as Customer Relation Officers.

a) Complaints/suggestions received by the Bank from the customers will be duly recorded as hitherto for monitoring of redressal/implementation thereof.

b) The name and contact particulars of the Nodal Officer of the Bank will remain displayed as hitherto in the branch premises and also on Bank’s website to facilitate the customers to raise their grievances/suggestions regarding customer services rendered by the Bank.

c) The Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 2006 containing provisions of the Scheme as well as contact details of all the Banking Ombudsman Offices will remain displayed as hitherto in the branch premises and on the bank’s website.

d) Copies of the Code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers/Fair Practice Code will be available in the branches for distribution amongst the customers. Apart from this, the Code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers is also displayed on the Bank’s website.

e) A complaint register will be kept at a prominent place by all the branches to make it convenient for the customers to enter their complaints therein.

3. Resolution of Grievances :

• The Branch Manager is responsible for the resolution of complaints/grievances in respect of customer service in branches.

• He will resolve the matter completely to the satisfaction of the customer.

• If not satisfied, the customer will be provided with alternate avenues to escalate the issue.

• If the Branch Manager feels that he is not in a position to resolve the complaint he will seek the guidance of Zonal Office and further if required, Zonal Office may refer the case to the Nodal Officer at Head Office.

3.1 Time Frame for resolution of complaints :

The policy for disposal of complaints within the timeframe of our Bank shall be as under :

• Complaints received by the Bank are to be acknowledged immediately.

• Complaints received from MOF/DPG/RBI/Other VIPs are to be disposed of within 2 weeks.

• Complaints received directly from customers/public are to be redressed within 3 weeks.

• Complaints arising out of misbehaviour should be dealt with sternly and must be disposed of within a period of seven days.

In order to give focused attention on redressal of customer grievances depending upon the nature and seriousness of the complaints, the Bank shall adopt ABC Analysis of the complaints by segregating those into three baskets and fixing time frame for disposal in accordance with the classification. Action taken report thereupon will be obtained from the Zonal Offices on monthly basis in a structured format. Details of the ABC Analysis is placed herewith (ANNEXURE-I).

3.2 Complaints emanating from rural areas and those relating to financial assistance to Priority Sector and Government’s Poverty Alleviation Programmes will be resolved in a time bound manner depending upon the natures thereof as per the ABC Analysis of complaints.

3.3 Bank will disclose brief details regarding number of complaints received and redressed along with the financial results. The statement would include complaints received at the Head Office/controlling office level as also those received at the Branch level. However, the complaints redressed within the next working day will not be included in the statement.

3.4 In respect of the complaints, which remain unresolved after one month, the concerned branch/controlling office will forward a copy of the same to the concerned Nodal Officer under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme and keep him updated regarding the status of the complaint for enabling the Nodal Officers to deal with any reference received from the Banking Ombudsman regarding the complaint more effectively.

3.5 The final letter sent to the customer regarding redressal of the complaint will mention about the option to the customer to approach the concerned Banking Ombudsman in case he/she is not satisfied with the redressal of the complaint. The final letter will also contain the details of the concerned Banking Ombudsman.

4. Interaction with customers :

To gather feedback on Customer’s expectation / requirement / grievances through personal interaction with customers by bank’s staff structured customer meets will be organised at branches one in a month for improvement in customer service.

• Fifteenth day of each month is earmarked as “Customer Day” where a customer can raise his/her grievance to the offices/branches personally without any prior appointment.

• Monthly structured customer meetings will be organised in the branches in which Manager and members of the Staff will have a direct interface with the customers to have a better understanding of the problems faced by the customers and to improve quality of service and revision of product, if any, in the light of such discussions.

5. Sensitizing operating staff on handling complaints :

• Bank will impart training on an ongoing basis to its employees on handling complaints/redressal of grievances/customer counselling.

• The Nodal Officer of the Bank will ensure that internal machinery for handling complaints/grievances operates smoothly and efficiently at all levels.
  

6. Access of complaints to the CVOs- Instructions regarding:

Any complaint/grievance received in the Bank by any functionary containing any element of alleged corruption, malpractices or misconduct etc. should necessarily be escalated to the Chief Vigilance Officer of the Bank for scrutiny and action.