Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a two-pronged approach to customer service Reserve Bank of India (RBI) aims to provide opportunities for retailers to participate in the state security market and assist in nation building.

“The two RBI initiatives – the retail direct scheme and the Integrated ombudsman scheme – will also promote fundraising,” he said.

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The Prime Minister, in launching a two-pronged approach to consumer advocacy, said the strategies increase the amount of money and streamline solutions for customer complaints.

The direct marketing strategy, he said, will provide an opportunity for investors to reap real benefits by investing in secured funds and helping the government raise funds to build the country.

In the case of the Reserve Bank-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS), he said, its aim is to improve the grievance redressal mechanism by resolving customer complaints against institutions overseen by the central bank.

With the implementation of the policy, he said, “One Nation-One Ombudsman” has become a reality. The RBI Retail Direct Scheme seeks to enhance access to the state security market for retailers. It provides retailers with a new way to make money directly from the security provided by the Center and government agencies.

Merchants should be able to open and maintain their online security accounts online with RBI for free. Using technological advances, the system provides a mechanism to fund Central Government, Treasury bills, State Development Loans and gold bonds.

The plan puts India on the list of a few countries that offer such facilities.

The system (RB-IOS) will eliminate the control limits and limited reasons for complaint. The RBI will provide a one-stop shop for customer information to submit documents, follow up on complaints and provide feedback. Complaints not addressed under the ombudsman’s policy will continue to be supported by Customer Education and Protection Cells (CEPCs) located in the 30 RBI offices.

With more awareness, digital penetration and economic integration were a major increase in complaints against various regulatory agencies. The number of complaints increased from 1.64 lakh in 2017-18 to 3.30 lakh complaints in 2019-2020, according to RBI data.

The RBI has in the past taken a number of measures to promote customer service in regulatory agencies including issuing guidelines to the Internal Ombudsmen, regulatory and supervisory systems, and the establishment of a Complaints Management System (CMS) in 2019.

After reviewing the RBI’s decision, the RBI decided to merge the three ombudsman’s methods into one and simplify the process by addressing all grievances regarding unemployment by placing it between receipts and preliminary complaints to improve efficiency.

Another RBI solution to current grievances includes three ombudsman approaches – Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS), established in 1995, Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies (OS-NBFC), 2018 and Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transction (OSDTa) ), 2019.

These procedures are administered through the 22 offices of the RBI Ombudsman (ORBIOs). Complaints that do not fall within the Ombudsman’s system are handled by Consumer Education and Protection Cells (CEPCs) which operate at 30 RBI offices.

The three systems, which changed from time to time, had a number of complaints that were frustrating, had different reasons for complaint, which resulted in poor customer performance, and had different payment methods.