(a) whether the banking and insurance ombudsman have a large number of pending claims;
(b) if so, the details of the number of claims that are pending before Banking Ombudsman and Insurance Ombudsman till date, Bank/Insurance company-wise; and
(c) the steps being taken by the Government to redress the claims immediately that have been pending for a long time?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(a) to (c): The Bank / Insurance company-wise details regarding number of complaints that are pending before Banking Ombudsman and Insurance Ombudsman as on 31.12.2017 are given in Annexure-I and Annexure-II respectively.
Offices of the Banking Ombudsman have to resolve the complaints within a period of two months. However, in some cases due to delay in receipt of information / documents / clarifications, the resolution gets delayed. In case of insurance sector, the Redressal of Public Grievances Rules, 1998 have been revamped and replaced by the Insurance Ombudsman Rules, 2017. The object of these Rules is to resolve all complaints of insurance policies taken in an individual capacity, group insurance policies, policies issued to sole proprietorship and micro enterprises on the part of insurance companies and their agents and intermediaries in a cost effective and impartial manner. The Rules provide for disposal of complaints by an Ombudsman in a time bound manner. They also provide for payment of penal interest to customers at a rate per annum, as specified in the regulation framed under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999, from the date the claim ought to have been settled under the regulations, till the date of payment of the amount awarded by the Ombudsman.
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