- Villagers in the western state of Maharashtra, India, will soon have access to basic banking products and services thanks to a mobile “Branch on Wheels” offered by India’s largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, as part of the bank’s financial inclusion initiative, aiming to expand its reach to citizens devoid of banking facilities.
- Two more could be opened in Odisha and Chhattisgrah states each depending on the success of its pilot project.
- The "Branch on Wheels" will be a van that travels to pre-identified unbanked villages at specific timings in the day, coming equipped with a GPS tracking system, laptops with 3G connections, LED TV, a safe, a printer, public announcement system, an UV Lamp that detects forged cheques, a note counting-cum-authentication machine that identifies fake currency notes and a unique low weight ATM.
- Seeking to improve banking services and ensure speedy redressal of grievances of customers, the Reserve Bank of India has set up a working group to update the Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 2006.
- The working group, to be headed by senior RBI official Suma Varma, will also take into account recommendations of the Damodaran Committee on improvement of customer services in banks (Scheduled Commercial, Regional Rural, Co-operative Banks).
- The BOS covers grievances related with credit card complaints, internet banking, deficiencies in providing the promised services by bank and its sales agents, levying service charges without prior notice to the customers etc.
- In cases where monetary compensation is claimed by customers, the amount prescribed is the actual loss plus some nominal amount. But, in cases where the customer claims compensation for, say, mental harassment, it is being considered how much monetary compensation the Ombdusman can prescribe, the official adds.
