i nc lu s i ve f i nanc e i nd i a re port 2014
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B
OX
5.5
Draft Charter of Customer Rights of RBI (22 August 2014)
1. Right to Fair Treatment: Both the customer and the financial services provider have a right to be treated with courtesy. The
customer should not be unfairly discriminated against on grounds such as gender, age, religion, caste and physical ability when
offering and delivering financial products.
2. Right to Transparency, Fair and Honest Dealing: The financial services provider should make every effort to ensure that the
contracts or agreements it frames are transparent, easily understood by and well communicated to, the common person. The
product’s price, the associated risks, the customer’s responsibilities and the terms and conditions that govern use over the
product’s life cycle, should be clearly disclosed. The customer should not be subject to unfair business or marketing practices,
coercive contractual terms or misleading representations. Over the course of their relationship, the financial services provider
cannot threaten the customer with physical harm, exert undue influence, or engage in blatant harassment.
3. Right to Suitability: The products offered should be appropriate to the needs of the customer and based on an assessment of
the customer’s financial circumstances and understanding.
4. Right to Privacy: Customers’ personal information should be kept confidential unless they have offered specific consent to
the financial services provider or such information is required to be provided under the law or it is provided for a mandated
business purpose (for example, to credit information companies). The customer should be informed upfront about likely man-
dated business purposes. Customers have the right to protection from all kinds of communications, electronic or otherwise,
which infringe upon their privacy.
5. Right to Grievance Redress and Compensation: The customer has a right to hold the financial services provider accountable
for the products offered and to have a clear and easy way to have any valid grievances redressed. The provider should also facili-
tate the redress of grievances stemming from its sale of third party products. The financial services provider must communicate
its policy for compensating mistakes, lapses in conduct, as well as non-performance or delays in performance, whether caused
by the provider or otherwise. The policy must lay out the rights and duties of the customer when such events occur.
Source
:
, dated 22 August 2014 (accessed 24 August 2014).
APPENDICES
A
PPENDIX
5.1
Mor Committee Recommendations—Priority Sector Lending
4.28 All loans given to landless labourers and small and marginal farmers should be counted as a part of Direct Agriculture and
not merely the wages component of a loan given to a farmer for financing her agricultural production.
4.29 Investment by banks in bonds of institutions must qualify for PSL where wholesale lending to the same institutions already
qualifies under PSL.
4.30 Credit facilities documented as bonds or Pass-Through Certificates (PTC), whether originated directly or purchased in the
secondary markets should be permitted to be held in the—banking book of a bank based on declared intent and not merely
based on source or legal documentation.
4.31 Investment by banks in the form of non-fund based limits (such as guarantees) should qualify for PSL to the extent of the
credit equivalent amount of the off-balance sheet facility where loans to these categories qualify for PSL. ANBC should also
be adjusted to include such PSL-linked, non-fund based limits.
4.32 Equity investments by banks in complementary infrastructure within the purview of PSL guidelines, such as rural ware-
houses, market yards, godowns, silos, and NBFCs in low financial depth districts should be eligible for contribution to the
overall priority sector lending targets. They should be permitted where debt already qualifies for PSL but with a multiplier of
four, to reflect the higher risk and the illiquid character of these investments. The benefit must accrue as long as the equity
investment is held by the Bank. This list of eligible equity investments may be varied from time-to-time.
4.33 PSL targets should be applicable on the last reporting Friday during the last month of each quarter in exactly the same
manner as it is currently applicable in the month of March, so as to ensure more timely and continuous credit flow into
priority sectors. In order to ensure administrative ease, requirements such as investment into RIDF can continue to be levied
on an annual basis and computed on the basis of the average of the quarterly requirements.
