In a bit to handle the complaints pertaining to digital payments, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to introduce a separate Ombudsman. This step is being taken in the wake of the rising popularity of e-payments and associated complaints.
As per RBI’s annual report for FY17-18, the number of complaints related to digital payments and prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) issued by the banks and non-banks, have reported an increase.
While the grievances related to e-payments accounted for 19 per cent of the total complaints during 2016-17, the level went up by 28 per cent till the end of June 2018.
The report further revealed that a total of 3.5 billion transactions were reported with PPIs valued at Rs 1,416 billion. Electronic transactions in retail payments have also inflated to 92.6 per cent in 2017-18 as compared to 88.9 per cent in the previous year.
Paper-based clearing instruments such as cheques have reported a decline. 7.4 percent payments were made via cheques in the 2017-18.
