Banking and Financial Awareness September 2018: 2nd week

RBI implemented the ‘Internal Ombudsman Scheme, 2018’

Scheduled commercial banks (except Regional rural banks) with more than 10 branches to appoint an internal ombudsman (IO), directed by Reserve Bank of India.
Ombudsman –

A person officially charged with investigating and addressing public complaints or violation of rights.
Banks in India had an internal ombudsman but they were mostly appointed from within bank staff and did not have statutory powers.
Under section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, RBI gives ombudsman statutory powers.

The internal ombudsman scheme is for strengthening the internal grievance of banks and ensuring that the complaints of the customers are redressed.
This scheme will be monitored by the bank’s internal audit mechanism apart from regulatory oversight by RBI.
Tenure of the IO cannot be more than five years and it is not open to reappointment.
Reserve Bank of India

Fund was allotted in August 2018, and will be used for 158 minor irrigation projects and 23 flood protection projects.
Minor irrigation projects will benefit 20,506 hectares, with 3.09 lakh population in 699 villages of 22 districts.
Cumulative RIDF loan assistance to West Bengal government in 2018 amounts to Rs 1,172.16 crore.
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

Facilitating the process of resolution of pension cases.
Fast-tracking pension issues for pension-related grievance of veterans/ veer naris/ next of kin.
Caters cash drawal and automated passbook updation.

For addressing market gaps stemming from the unintended consequences of global measures to fight money-laundering and terrorism.
Also this will open a channel of dialogue among stakeholders to help prevent crime and terrorism while financing growth and job creation.
Scores are assigned on two levels

A macro level - to identify characteristics of effective regulation that could be strengthened
A micro transactional level - to highlight specific challenges that can be addressed in the shorter term.

Bank or financial institution or a consortium of banks or financial institutions cannot approach, if the amount due is less than Rs. 20 lakhs.
This is for reducing pendency of cases in DRTs. There are 39 DRTs in India.

Airtel has partnered with Empays for this, to enable Instant Money Transfer (IMT) for its account holders.
At present the facility is available for Airtel Payments Bank account holders at over 20,000 IMT-enabled ATMs in India and will cover more than 100,000 ATMs.
Instant Money Transfer (IMT) service can be accessed by account holders via USSD (*400#) and MyAirtel app.
The first two self-withdrawal transactions will be free, but after that a transaction fee of Rs. 25 will be charged.
Airtel Payments Bank