Data from the annual report of the Ombudsman Schemes indicates that more than 50% of the complaints were received from the metropolitan areas. North Zone tops the list of complaints with a 43.1% share. Further, 89% of the complaints were received through the digital mode. In the previous story, we reviewed the trends in the complaints received under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS), based on the Annual Report of Ombudsman Schemes, 2020-21. Among the three existing ombudsman schemes of RBI, we specifically looked at the Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS) and the trends relating to the number of complaints, category of complaints, mode & rate of disposal, etc. In this follow-up story, we look at the data of the BOS for trends related to receipt of complaints by the Ombudsman Office, mode of receipt of the complaints, demographics, category of banks, etc. We also discuss a few examples of complaints received by the Office of the Banking Ombudsman (OBOs) and the resolution provided in those complaints. Chandigarh OBO received the greatest number of complaints. The greatest number of complaints were received in the North Zone with 43.1% of the total complaints in 2020-21, about 1.17 lakh complaints. As per the update provided in the annual report, there is a 12.7% year-on-year (YoY) increase in the number of complaints received in the North Zone. For the year 2020-21, the West Zone registered a growth of 13.5% in the number of complaints. It also accounts for the second-highest share of complaints received in the country. Compared to the North & West Zones, the South Zone and East Zone have a lower share of the complaints in 2020-21. The high number of complaints received in the North Zone is mainly contributed by the complaints in OBO Chandigarh. In 2020-21, more than 28 thousand complaints were received by this OBO alone. However, in terms of city-wise complaints, New Delhi tops with 43.2 thousand complaints, received in the three different OBOs in New Delhi. Kanpur also has a significant number of complaints with 21.16 thousand. In the West Zone, the OBOs in Mumbai have registered 18.6 thousand (Mumbai-I) & 15.2 thousand (Mumbai-II) complaints in 2020-21, while Ahmedabad OBO received 17.2 thousand complaints. Among the OBOs in South Zone, Hyderabad OBO received the most cases with about 17 thousand. The average cost of Handling a complaint was reduced to Rs. 1,605 As per the latest annual report, the total cost of handling 3.02 lakh cases in 2020-21 (July-March) was Rs. 48.55 crores. This comes to an average of Rs.1,605 per complaint. Over the years, the efficiency in handling the complaints has improved resulting in a reduction in the handling cost per complaint. In 2019-20, Rs. 77.36 crores were spent to handle 3.2 lakh complaints, resulting in an average of Rs. 2,412 per complaint. This was an improvement over 2018-19 when the average cost of handling one complaint was Rs. 3,145. While the average cost per complaint has certainly improved at the national level, the average cost to handle the complaints is not the same across all the OBOs. Chandigarh, which has the greatest number of complaints in 2020-21, also has the lowest average cost with Rs. 1,066 per the complaint, followed by Jaipur at Rs. 1,113. Jammu & Guwahati branches have incurred the highest average cost in handling. In fact, the average cost of handling a complaint in Jammu is almost six times the national average. One common trend visible from the data is that the average handling cost per complaint is high in OBOs that received fewer complaints. The same is the case in OBOs like Ranchi, Raipur, Thiruvananthapuram, etc. This could be due to fixed overhead costs in each of the OBOs irrespective of the number of complaints. 89% of the complaints received through Digital mode In the earlier story, we had highlighted that the issues relating to Complaint Management System (CMS) were resolved which could be one of the major reasons for an increased number of complaints. This is also visible from the fact that digital is the preferred mode of the complaint. In 2020-21, 89% of the complaints were received through Digital mode. This includes Online registration of the complaints through the CMS portal and through e-mails. Out of the total complaints received, around 60% are received online and 29% through e-mails. The remaining 11% of the complaints were received in Physical form i.e., Post, Fax Courier, etc. In the previous year also i.e., 2019-20, there was a major jump in the usage of digital mode. In 2019-20, a total of 85.6% of the complaints were received through the digital mode, up from around 72% in 2018-19. The usage of the CMS portal increased continuously, at the expense of both e-mail and non-digital modes.