How to Complain About a Bank or NBFC in India: The RBI Ombudsman Route

Short answer: complain to the bank or NBFC first and give it thirty days. If the reply does not come, or does not satisfy you, take it to the RBI Ombudsman — one scheme, one portal, one email, free, no lawyer, covering banks, NBFCs, payment system participants and credit bureaus alike. The Ombudsman can award your actual loss up to ₹30 lakh, and a further ₹3 lakh for loss of time, expenses and harassment. And if the complaint is about a transaction you did not authorise, a different and much faster rule applies: report it within three working days and your liability is zero.

Changing from 1 January 2027: RBI’s amendment directions of 24 June 2026 replace the 2017 tiered table for transactions on or after 1 January 2027. The headline changes reported by Medianama, Business Standard and law-firm updates (we have not read RBI’s own circular text): zero liability for bank-negligence fraud whenever reported, zero liability for third-party breaches reported within five calendar days, and a one-time compensation of 85% of the net loss up to ₹25,000 for individuals who lose up to ₹50,000 and report to the bank and to 1930 within five calendar days. Until then, the 2017 rules in this guide apply.

General consumer information, not legal advice.

The unauthorised-transaction rule, first, because it is time-critical

RBI’s customer-protection framework on unauthorised electronic banking transactions fixes liability by how fast you report, not by how the fraud happened. If the loss is due to the bank’s own negligence or a system failure, your liability is nil however late you report. Otherwise, where the fault is a third party’s and lies neither with the bank nor with you:

Two further obligations sit on the bank, and they are the ones to quote:

• It must credit (shadow reversal) the disputed amount within 10 working days of your notification, without waiting for the investigation to finish or for insurance settlement.
• It must resolve the complaint within 90 days, and the burden of proving customer liability rests on the bank, not on you.

Report by whatever channel is fastest — the 24x7 helpline, the app, the branch — and then confirm in writing by email the same day, because the three-working-day clock is proved by that email, not by a call you cannot evidence. For payment fraud also call the cyber helpline 1930 and file on cybercrime.gov.in; the golden hour matters for freezing the money downstream.

The Ombudsman: who it covers and how to reach it

The Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme merged three earlier schemes into one in 2021 and removed the old jurisdiction-by-geography confusion. The 2026 version (RB-IOS 2026), in force from 1 July 2026, replaced the 2021 text and governs every new complaint. The caps and the 90-day window below come from law-firm summaries of the 2026 scheme (Vinod Kothari & Co., Candour Legal) and RBI’s FAQ page; confirm on rbi.org.in before you file. It is deliberately simple:

The two conditions that get complaints rejected

Most Ombudsman rejections are not about the merits. They are about these:

1. You did not complain to the bank first. The scheme requires a prior written complaint to the regulated entity. Then either it rejected the complaint, or you are dissatisfied with the reply, or thirty days passed with no reply.
2. You waited too long. File within 90 days of the end of the entity’s 30-day response window or of its last reply, whichever is later. The pre-July-2026 scheme allowed one year, so older advice that says “one year” is out of date.

A complaint is also outside the scheme if the same subject matter is pending or has been decided in a court, tribunal, arbitration or consumer forum, if it is frivolous or vexatious, or if it concerns a commercial judgement of the bank such as pricing or a credit decision — unless the grievance is about the conduct of that decision (non-disclosure, discrimination, failure to follow the entity’s own stated policy).

What the Ombudsman is good at

NBFCs, loan apps and recovery calls

The same Ombudsman covers NBFCs, and the Fair Practices Code is the instrument to cite. Recovery agents may not call before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m., may not resort to harassment, humiliation or intimidation, and may not contact your family, employer or contacts about your debt. If the lender behind an app cannot be identified, that is itself the finding — regulated entities must disclose the name of the lending entity in the app and on their website, and RBI publishes the list of digital lending apps reported by regulated entities. For an entity that appears to be unregulated, use RBI’s Sachet portal (sachet.rbi.org.in) rather than the Ombudsman, and report harassment to 1930 and to the local police.

How to write it so it lands

On cms.rbi.org.in you will be asked for the entity, the category, the amount and a narrative. Keep the narrative to these five lines:

1. Account or card number (masked), branch, and the date of the incident.
2. What happened, in dates, with the amount.
3. When you complained to the bank, by what channel, and its reference number.
4. What the bank replied — or that thirty days passed with no reply.
5. The specific relief you want, as a number.

Upload the bank’s reply, your original complaint, and the statement showing the disputed entry. A complaint without the bank’s reference number is the one most likely to be sent back.

Frequently asked questions

How do I complain about my bank to RBI?

Complain to the bank first and wait up to thirty days. Then file free with the RBI Ombudsman at cms.rbi.org.in, by email to CRPC@rbi.org.in, or by post to the Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre in Chandigarh. The helpline is 14448. No fee and no lawyer are involved.

How much compensation can the RBI Ombudsman award?

Your actual loss, capped at ₹30 lakh, plus up to ₹3 lakh separately for loss of time, expenses incurred, and mental agony or harassment. The second head is often overlooked — ask for it explicitly and say what it cost you in time and travel.

What if money was debited from my account without my permission?

Notify the bank immediately and confirm by email the same day. If you report within three working days of being informed of the transaction, your liability is zero. The bank must shadow-credit the disputed amount within ten working days of your notification and resolve within ninety days, and it — not you — carries the burden of proving you were liable.

Does the RBI Ombudsman cover NBFCs and payment apps?

Yes. The Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS 2026) covers banks, NBFCs, payment system participants including wallets and UPI apps, and credit information companies, all through the same portal and the same process.

How long do I have to file with the Ombudsman?

90 days, counted from the end of the bank’s 30-day response window or its last reply, whichever is later. Complaints filed before 1 July 2026 stay under the old scheme, which allowed one year. Filing late is one of the most common reasons an otherwise good complaint is closed without a hearing.

Can I go to the consumer court instead?

Yes, and banking and financial services are squarely within “service” under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. But you cannot run both at once: a complaint already pending or decided before a consumer commission is outside the Ombudsman scheme. The Ombudsman is usually the better first move — free, faster, and it leaves the consumer commission open if you are unhappy with the outcome.