The objective of this policy is to establish a system whereby the Bank compensates the customer for the financial loss the customer could incur due to deficiency in service on the part of the Bank or any act of omission or commission directly attributable to the Bank.

• The policy is based on the principles of transparency and fairness in the treatment of customers.
• It is designed to compensate the customer only for the financial loss incurred by the customer due to deficiency in the services offered by the Bank which can be measured directly and limited to the compensation specified for the respective service as given below.
• The date of receipt of complaint/notice by the Bank would be taken as day 'zero' and the timelines mentioned would be counted from the next working day onwards.
• The commitments under this policy are without prejudice to any right the Bank will have in defending its position before any Court of Law, Tribunal or forum duly constituted to adjudicate banker-customer disputes.
• The policy document covers the following aspects:



a. Erroneous debiting of account


b. Debits towards service charges


c. Payment of cheques after acknowledgement of stop payment instructions


d. Payment of interest to customers for delayed collection of instruments


e. Handling of instruments lost in transit


f. Funds transfers using NEFT/RTGS


g. Foreign exchange services - Collection of cheques outside India denominated in Foreign Currency


h. Failure to execute standing instructions


i. Reversal of erroneous debits arising on account of fraudulent transactions


j. Violation of the Code by banks agent


k. Transaction of 'at par instruments' of Cooperative Banks by Commercial Banks

• If the Bank has raised an erroneous direct debit to an account, upon being informed of the erroneous debit, the entry will be reversed after due verification.
• In the event the erroneous debit has resulted in a financial loss to the customer by way of reduction in the minimum balance applicable for payment of interest on savings bank deposit or payment of additional interest to the Bank in a loan account or any charges levied for balance falling below the minimum balance requirement or any charges levied for return of cheques due to shortfall in balance, the Bank will compensate the customer to the extent of direct financial loss.
• The customer should approach the Bank within a maximum period of six months from the date of the erroneous debit.
In case verification of the entry reported to be erroneous by the customer does not involve a third party, the Bank shall complete the process of verification within a maximum period of 7 working days from the date of reporting of erroneous debit.
• In case verification involves a third party, the Bank shall complete the verification process within a maximum period of one month from the date of reporting of erroneous transaction by the customer.
• The Bank reserves its right to debit the account for reversing the amounts in case a wrong credit is posted to a customer's account without payment of any compensation.
• In respect of credit card operations if a customer protests any charges / transaction done on merchant establishment, the Bank would give him sufficient explanation and copy of charge slip, if required, within 60 days, provided the dispute/protest is raised within 60 days of transaction date and the required charges for locating the charge slip are paid.

• The Bank would debit the customer's account with any applicable service charge as per the schedule of charges notified by the Bank.
• In the event, the Bank levies any charges in violation of the arrangement, the Bank will reverse the same when pointed out by the customer subject to verification of the agreed terms and conditions. Any consequential financial loss by way of loss of savings bank interest on account of reduction in the minimum balance applicable for payment of interest on savings bank deposit or payment of additional interest to the Bank in a loan account or any charges levied for balance falling below minimum balance requirement or any charges levied for return of cheques due to shortfall in balance, will also be compensated to the customer.
• Where it is established that the Bank has issued an unsolicited credit card, the Bank would not only reverse the charges immediately but also pay compensation without demur to the recipient amounting to twice the value of charges reversed. Charges will include only those charges that are levied to the customer only when no transactions have been done on the card and such charges have been actually recovered from the customer.

In case a cheque has been paid after the Bank acknowledges stop payment instruction, the transaction shall be reversed within 2 working days of the customer intimating the transaction to the concerned branch. Interest, if eligible, will also be paid at the savings bank interest rate.

• In case of outstation cheques and other instruments sent for collection to centers within the country, the following time schedule shall be adhered to for realization by branches:




Sr. No.	Cheque Type	Time Norms	Remarks
1	Local Cheque - High Value	Same day clearing. Applicable on the days when High Value Clearing is made available.	Applicable to areas covered by High Value Clearing. Both, Presenting Bank and Drawee Bank should be participants of high value clearing session.
2	Local Cheque - Non-High Value as well as cheques not covered in Item (1.) above.	On settlement of funds.	For local cheques presented in clearing, credit will be afforded as on the date of settlement of funds in clearing and the account holder will be allowed to withdraw funds once the return clearing cycle is complete and clear credit is available in customer account.
3	Outstation cheques drawn on all state capitals	Seven working days	Working days shall not include Bank Holidays and days when clearinghouse is not operational. Working days will be considered at both the ends/centers.
4	Outstation cheques drawn in all major cities (List of the major cities appended)	Ten working days	- do -
5	Outstation cheques drawn on all other locations.	Fourteen working days	Banks will have to depend on the correspondent/drawee banks for this purpose.

• In case there is a delay in realization beyond the timelines mentioned above, The Bank will pay interest to the customer on the amount of collection instruments. Such interest shall be paid without any demand from customers in all types of accounts. There will be no distinction between instruments drawn on the Bank's own branches or on other banks for the purpose of payment of interest on delayed collection except for reasons which are beyond the control of the Bank.
• Interest payments would be applicable only for instruments (drawn in INR) sent for collection within India.




Sr. No.	Scenario	Interest rate
Cheque deposit in operative and loan accounts
1	Delay* upto 30 days	Savings Bank Interest Rate
2	Delay beyond 30 days	Fixed Deposit Interest Rate would be payable after the expiry of the 30 days mentioned above upto the date of actual credit. The rate applicable would be the rate of interest prevailing on the date of the deposit of cheque.

To view the list of major cities where oustation cheques can be drawn, please click here.

*Delay would be calculated from the date of expiry of turnaround time indicated in the table on timeframe for collection of local/outstation instruments.

• The Bank would observe the following policy in case of cheques lost in transit:



a. In the event a cheque or an instrument accepted for collection is lost in transit or in the clearing process or at the paying Bank's branch, the Bank shall immediately on coming to know of the loss, bring the same to the notice of the account holder so that the account holder can inform the drawer to record stop payment and also take care that cheques, if any, issued by him/her are not dishonoured due to non-credit of the amount of the lost cheques/instruments.


b. If the cheque/instrument has been lost at the paying bank's branch, the collecting branch will have a right to recover the amount, including charges / interest expenses reimbursed to the customer for the loss of the cheque/instrument from the paying banker.


c. The Bank would provide all assistance to the customer to obtain a duplicate instrument from the drawer of the cheque. This would be applicable only to instruments drawn in INR payable within India.


d. The Bank will compensate the account holder in respect of instruments lost in transit as follows and will recover it from the paying bank.


i. In case intimation regarding loss of instrument is conveyed to the customer after the time limit stipulated for collection (7/10/14 days as the case may be) interest will be paid for the period exceeding the stipulated collection period at the rates specified above.


ii. In addition, the Bank will pay interest on the amount of the cheque for a period of 15 days at savings bank rate to provide for likely further delay in obtaining duplicate cheque/instrument and collection thereof.


iii. The Bank would also compensate the customer for any reasonable charges he/she incurs in getting duplicate cheque/instrument upon production of receipt, in the event the instrument is to be obtained from a bank/institution who would charge a fee for issue of duplicate instrument.

The rate of compensation in case of delays in crediting the remittance proceeds received through NEFT/RTGS beyond one day after receipt of the message at our gateway shall be at the prevailing REPO rate.

• It is the Bank's experience that the time norms for collection of instruments drawn on banks in foreign countries differ from country to country and even within a country, from place to place. The time norms for return of instruments cleared provisionally also vary from country to country. Therefore, no compensation shall be paid for any delay in collection of cheques designated in foreign currencies and sent to foreign countries.
• The Bank will compensate the customer only for undue delays in affording credit once proceeds are credited to the Nostro Account of the Bank with its correspondent with full particulars. The compensation in such cases will be restricted to the extent of eligible Savings Bank Interest Rate which shall be calculated for the period after taking into account the normal cooling period stipulated (Cooling period is maximum 16 international working days from the value date of credit in our Nostro Account with the Correspondent Bank).
• The foreign exchange rate on the date of credit in our Nostro Account shall be the basis for calculation of interest irrespective of the rate prevailing on the date of claim / calculation / settlement.

• The Bank undertakes to carry out Direct Debits / ECS debits / standing instructions of customers in time subject to the following:



1. Customer having already provided valid and complete mandate to accept any debit received through ECS.


2. Customer having already submitted a mandate for standing instructions.


3. Direct debit/ ECS received is complete and correct.


4. Customer has sufficient balance in the account at the time of executing direct debits/ standing instructions/ ECS.


• In case of failure to carry out the instructions subject to the aforesaid clauses and for reasons directly attributable to the Bank, the Bank will compensate the customers on the following lines:
• For direct debits / ECS debits - The Bank shall compensate the customer at the savings bank interest rate for the period between the due date of direct debit / ECS debit and the date of actual debit carried out by the bank. The Bank shall also reimburse the Customer to the extent of any penal interest, late payment charges levied by the debit/ ECS originating Bank, upon producing evidence of the same.
• For standing instructions - The Bank shall compensate the customer to the extent of the financial loss not exceeding Rs. 100 per occasion subject to providing proper supporting documents for having incurred the loss. In addition, the service charges, if any, recovered for execution of the Standing Instruction shall also be refunded.

• In case of any fraud, if the Bank is convinced that an irregularity / fraud has been committed by its staff towards any constituent it would acknowledge its liability and pay the just claim.
• In cases where the Bank is at fault, it shall compensate the customer without demur.
• In cases where neither the Bank nor the customer is at fault, but the fault lies elsewhere in the system, the Bank would compensate the customer for an amount of 25% of the loss incurred by the customer subject to an upper limit of Rs. 25,000/- subject to the customer providing proper supporting document for having incurred the loss.

In the event of receipt of any complaint from the customer that the Bank's representative / courier or DSA has engaged in any improper conduct or acted in violation of the Code of Bank's Commitment to Customers, which the Bank has adopted voluntarily, the Bank will take appropriate steps to investigate and to handle the complaint and to compensate the customer for financial losses, subject to the customer providing proper supporting document for having incurred the loss.

• The Bank will not honour cheques drawn on current accounts maintained by other banks with it unless arrangements are made for funding cheques issued.
• The Cooperative Bank from whose account the cheques have been issued would be responsible to compensate the cheque holder for non-payment / delayed payment of cheques in the absence of adequate funding arrangement.

• The compensation shall be paid by replicating the effect obtained through back-valuation of the affected transaction.
• The compensation as per this Policy is payable to a customer only in those cases where any act of omission or commission is directly attributable to the Bank.
• No claim would be considered, under any circumstance, based on qualitative aspects like reputation damages, loss of image in the society, loss of business, loss of income, etc.
• The amount of compensation is restricted to the actual financial loss of the customer arising out of the amount in the books of the Bank only and in any case, to the maximum limits prescribed for the various services given above.

The Bank shall not be liable to compensate customers for delayed credit/non-availability of any service, if some unforeseen event (including but not limited to civil commotion, sabotage, accident, fire, natural disasters or other "Acts of God", war, damage to the Bank's facilities or of its correspondent bank(s), absence of the usual means of communication or all types of transportation, etc.) beyond the control of the Bank which may prevent it from performing its obligations within the specified service delivery parameters.