RBI governor: Need system to redress plaints tied to digital payments

Mar 19, 2023

RBI governor Shaktikanta Dashas slammed the lack of an effective grievance redress mechanism for customers among many payment system operators, underlining the need for the industry to treat every fraud and complaint as a cause for concern requiring detailed root-cause analysis.

“While there is wide appreciation of the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) system conceived by RBI, how many payment system operators (PSOs) have actually enabled it? Should not the entities embrace such initiatives upfront and enhance customer satisfaction? After all, PSOs deal with public money,” he said in a speech at a PSO Conference in Kochi on Saturday.

Das cautioned that public trust in digital payments would be eroded without efficient resolution of disputes. “Availability and affordability of an expeditious grievance redress mechanism is of utmost importance to ensure public trust in digital payments,” he added.

While the traditional bank branch model offers a physical place where customers can lodge grievances, Das said the same may not be the case in digital payments where users sometimes find it difficult to ascertain the appropriate forum for solving such problems.

He suggested that PSOs could leverage technology and go in for rule-based resolution of grievances with zero to minimal manual intervention.

Das lauded PSOs for stepping up during the pandemic, when the resilience of payment systems was severely tested. However, he stressed the need for continued innovation and adapting to changing circumstances.

Das said RBI had taken a number of steps to increase the security of payment transactions as well as the ecosystem. He cited the introduction of the Additional Factor of Authentication for card-based e-commerce and online transactions, later extended to other payment modes and channels, as a success story in Indian payment systems.

[The Times of India]