Image Source Nov 15, 2021 19:28 IST · 1 min read
PM Modi launched two customer-centric initiatives of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) - Retail direct scheme and Integrated ombudsman scheme.
These schemes would expand the scope for investment and improve customer grievance redressal mechanism.
RBI Retail Direct Scheme
The RBI Retail Direct Scheme is aimed at enhancing access to the government securities market for retail investors.It offers retail investors a new avenue for directly investing in the securities issued by the Centre and the State governments.
The investors will be able to easily open and maintain their government securities "Retail Direct Gilt Account (RDG Account)" online with the RBI for free.
A Gilt Account can be compared with a bank account, except that the account is debited or credited with treasury bills or government securities instead of money.
The scheme offers a portal avenue to invest in Central government securities, treasury bills, State development loans and sovereign gold bonds.
They can invest in primary as well as secondary market government securities markets.
Reserve Bank-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS)
The Reserve Bank-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RB-IOS) aimed at further improving the grievance redress mechanism for resolving customer complaints against entities regulated by the Central bank.RBI will provide a single reference point for the customers to submit documents, track status of complaints filed and provide feedback.
RBI's alternate grievance redress mechanism currently comprises three ombudsman schemes:
The Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS), 1995
The Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies (OS-NBFC), 2018
The Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions (OSDT), 2019.
The RBI after review decided to integrate the three ombudsman schemes into one.
