RBI Ombudsman For Digital Transactions

There are many complaints related to the fund transfer through the Tez, Phonepe, Paytm, BHIM and other UPI Apps. The money gets deducted but does not goes to the beneficiary account. Or the status of payment remains pending for many days. Similar things also happen with the bill payments when you don’t know what happened to your money. It becomes very frustrating when you can’t contact the customer care or you get a standard reply with no solution.

To solve these painful problems the RBI has given you an independent platform. Now you would have an Ombudsman to address your long pending complaints. There would be 21 such ombudsman in whole country for every region.

Ombudsman For Digital Transactions

Ombudsman has the responsibility to resolve customer complaints against deficiency in banking services. These ombudsmen are the chief general manager or managers of the Reserve Bank of India. The ombudsman tries to resolve the matter by settlements. However, ultimately it can also pass an order against the bank or third party operator.

• Tez Customer Support
• Phonepe Customer care
• Paytm Customer care numbers
• BHIM Customer support

In this case, the RBI has appointed the independent ombudsman only for the digital transactions. The banking ombudsmen are already there who would hear the complaints against the banks. Since digital transaction involves many third party operator which are not the bank, the RBI has deputed separate ombudsman for digital payments.

These ombudsman would deal with complaints against the mobile wallets, mobile payments and online fund transfers.

When Should You Complain To Ombudsman

You have the ombudsman facility for the complaints but it does not mean that It would be your primary complaints mechanism. Rather, you would go to ombudsman only if you are not satisfied with the response of your service provider. You can complain to ombudsman if there is no response or unsatisfactory response from the system participant.

• If the System Participant does not reply within a period of one month after receipt of the complaint
• Or System Participant Rejects the Complaints
• Or, You are not satisfied with the response.

Ground For The Complaints

The ombudsman accepts your complaints if it is related to following issues.

Mobile/ Electronic Fund Transfer

You can complain to ombudsman against the UPI app for following reasons.

1. The fund transfer does not take place within reasonable time
2. Unauthorized electronic fund transfer
3. Failure to reverse the amount debited from customer account in cases of failed payment transactions within prescribed timeline

Prepaid Instruments (Mobile Wallets)

You can go to the ombudsman against the mobile wallet company on the following grounds.

1. If a mobile wallet did not credit your money into the account of merchant that is mobile operator or DTH Company on time.
2. If money gets debited from your bank account but did not credit to your wallet account.
3. Unauthorized electronic fund transfer
4. If mobile wallet does not transfer back money to your bank account at the time of closure, expiry of validity period etc.
5. Failure to refund within reasonable time / refusal to refund in case of unsuccessful / returned / rejected / cancelled / transactions

Where to File a Complaint

There are 21 offices of ombudsman in India. To which ombudsman, you should complain. The RBI has a rule for this.

If you have a complaint against the centralized operation of the system operator, you can go to the ombudsman who have jurisdiction in your area. The no-credit of payment would come in this category.

For the complaints which are not related to centralized operation, you should go to the ombudsman which have the jurisdiction over the branch/ office the UPI app or mobile wallet operator.

For the details of all the 21 ombudsman of digital transaction and their addresses You can go to the end of the post.

Steps to Lodge a Complaint With Ombudsman

You can lodge your complaint online and offline both. The online complaint is available only for the digital transactions. You can also file complaint through the authorized representative. There is no charge for using this service.

Online Method

You can send an email directly to the ombudsman stating your problem and all the details. For the required details, you can refer to the Complaint Form. You can use this form to lodge the complaint. However, this form is not mandatory. For email addresses of the ombudsman, you can refer to the addresses given below. It is also available at RBI website.

Offline Method

You  can file a complaint with the Ombudsman by writing on a plain paper. You have to send that paper to the concerned office of the Ombudsman by post/fax/hand. You can also take print of the Complaint form and fill it. The form is better option as you would give all the required information at once. It would minimize the further correspondence.

Addresses of Ombudsman for Digital Transactions

Sl No.	Centre	Address of the Office of the Ombudsman for Digital Transactions	Area of Operation
1.	Ahmedabad	C/o Reserve Bank of India La Gajjar Chambers, Ashram Road Ahmedabad-380 009 STD Code: 079 Tel. No. 26582357/26586718 Fax No. 26583325 Click here to lodge complaint	Gujarat, Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu
2.	Bengaluru	C/o Reserve Bank of India 10/3/8, Nrupathunga Road Bengaluru -560 001 STD Code: 080 Tel. No. 22210771/22275629 Fax No. 22244047 Click here to lodge complaint	Karnataka
3.	Bhopal	C/o Reserve Bank of India Hoshangabad Road Post Box No. 32, Bhopal-462 011 STD Code: 0755 Tel. No. 2573772/2573776 Fax No. 2573779 Click here to lodge complaint	Madhya Pradesh
4.	Bhubaneswar	C/o Reserve Bank of India Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru Marg Bhubaneswar-751 001 STD Code: 0674 Tel. No. 2396207/2396008 Fax No. 2393906 Click here to lodge complaint	Odisha
5.	Chandigarh	C/o Reserve Bank of India 4th Floor, Sector 17 Chandigarh Tel. No. 0172 -2721109 Fax No. 0172 -2721880 Click here to lodge complaint	Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Union Territory of Chandigarh and Panchkula, Yamuna Nagar and Ambala Districts of Haryana.
6.	Chennai	C/o Reserve Bank of India Fort Glacis, Chennai 600 001 STD Code: 044 Tel No. 25395964 Fax No. 25395488 Click here to lodge complaint	Tamil Nadu, Union Territories of Puducherry (except Mahe Region) and Andaman and Nicobar Islands
7.	Dehradun	C/o Reserve Bank of India 74/1 GMVN Building, 3rd floor, Rajpur Road, Dehradun – 248 001 STD Code: 0135 Telephone: 2742003 Fax: 2742001 Click here to lodge complaint	Uttarakhand and seven districts of Uttar Pradesh viz., Saharanpur, Shamli (Prabudh Nagar), Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Bijnor and Amroha (Jyotiba Phule Nagar)
8.	Guwahati	C/o Reserve Bank of India Station Road, Pan Bazar Guwahati-781 001 STD Code: 0361 Tel.No.2542556/2540445 Fax No. 2540445 Click here to lodge complaint	Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura
9.	Hyderabad	C/o Reserve Bank of India 6-1-56, Secretariat Road Saifabad, Hyderabad-500 004 STD Code: 040 Tel. No. 23210013/23243970 Fax No. 23210014 Click here to lodge complaint	Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
10.	Jaipur	C/o Reserve Bank of India, Ram Bagh Circle, Tonk Road, Post Box No. 12 Jaipur-302 004 STD Code: 0141 Tel. No.0141-5107973 Fax No.0141-2562220 Click here to lodge complaint	Rajasthan
11.	Jammu	C/o Reserve Bank of India , Rail Head Complex, Jammu- 180012 STD Code : 0191 Telephone: 2477617 Fax : 2477219 Click here to lodge complaint	State of Jammu and Kashmir
12.	Kanpur	C/o Reserve Bank of India M. G. Road, Post Box No. 82 Kanpur-208 001 STD Code: 0512 Tel. No. 2306278/2303004 Fax No. 2305938 Click here to lodge complaint	Uttar Pradesh (excluding Districts of Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Saharanpur, Shamli (Prabudh Nagar), Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Bijnor and Amroha (Jyotiba Phule Nagar)
13.	Kolkata	C/o Reserve Bank of India 15, Netaji Subhash Road Kolkata-700 001 STD Code: 033 Tel. No.22304982 Fax No.22305899 Click here to lodge complaint	West Bengal and Sikkim
14.	Mumbai (I)	C/o Reserve Bank of India 4th Floor, RBI Byculla Office Building, Opp. Mumbai Central Railway Station, Byculla, Mumbai-400 008 STD Code: 022 Tel No. 23022028 Fax : 23022024 Click here to lodge complaint	Districts of Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban and Thane
15.	Mumbai (II)	C/o Reserve Bank of India, 4th Floor, RBI Byculla Office Building, Opp. Mumbai Central Railway Station, Byculla, Mumbai-400 008 STD Code: 022 Tel. No. 23028140 Fax No 23022024 Click here to lodge complaint	Goa and Maharashtra, (except the districts of Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban andThane)
16.	New Delhi (I)	C/o Reserve Bank of India, Sansad Marg, New Delhi STD Code: 011 Tel. No. 23725445/23710882 Fax No. 23725218 Click here to lodge complaint	Delhi
17.	New Delhi (II)	C/o Reserve Bank of India Sansad Marg, New Delhi STD Code: 011 Tel. No. 23724856 Fax No. 23725218-19 Click here to lodge complaint	Haryana (except Panchkula, Yamuna Nagar and Ambala Districts) and Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar districts of Uttar Pradesh
18.	Patna	C/o Reserve Bank of India Patna-800 001 STD Code: 0612 Tel. No. 2322569/2323734 Fax No. 2320407 Click here to lodge complaint	Bihar
19.	Raipur	C/o Reserve Bank of India 54/949, Shubhashish Parisar, Satya Prem Vihar Mahadev Ghat Road, Sundar Nagar, Raipur- 492013 STD Code:0771 Tel No.2242566 Fax No. 2242566 Click here to lodge complaint	Chhattisgarh
20.	Ranchi	C/o Reserve Bank of India 4th Floor, Pragati Sadan, RRDA Building, Kutchery Road, Ranchi Jharkhand 834001 STD Code:0651 Tel No. 2210512 Fax No. 2210511 Click here to lodge complaint	Jharkhand
21	Thiruvananthapuram	C/o Reserve Bank of India Bakery Junction Thiruvananthapuram-695 033 STD Code: 0471 Tel No. 2332723/2323959 Fax No. 2321625 Click here to lodge complaint	Kerala, Union Territory of Lakshadweep and Union Territory of Puducherry (only Mahe Region).

This was the brief information about the RBI Ombudsman for the digital transaction. I hope this post would be helpful to those who are suffering from apathy of UPI Apps.