India's Central Bank Governor Urges AI Adoption for Improved Banking Customer Service

India's central bank governor calls on banks to adopt AI to address consumer complaints

March 17 (Reuters) - India's central bank-regulated entities can leverage artificial intelligence internal controls to address consumer complaints on mis-selling and aggressive practices, central bank governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Monday. Ninety-five commercial banks in India received over 10 million customer complaints in the 2023-2024 financial year, Malhotra said. "With the rapidly growing customer base and expanding suite of products, this may grow if we do not get our act together," he added. Financial institutions can use AI to analyse large volumes of data to detect spikes in issues such as ATM failures or erroneous charges, and receive pre-emptive alerts, Malhotra said in a speech. AI-driven chatbots and voice recognition tools can also be used to eliminate language barriers in a linguistically diverse country like India, Malhotra added. He also called for financial institutions to invest in human capital to improve customer service and grievance redressal processes. Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial Intelligence

India's Central Bank Governor Calls on Banks to Adopt AI to Address Consumer Complaints

(Reuters) - India's central bank-regulated entities can leverage artificial intelligence internal controls to address consumer complaints on mis-selling and aggressive practices, central bank governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Monday. Ninety-five commercial banks in India received over 10 million customer complaints in the 2023-2024 financial year, Malhotra said. "With the rapidly growing customer base and expanding suite of products, this may grow if we do not get our act together," he added. Financial institutions can use AI to analyse large volumes of data to detect spikes in issues such as ATM failures or erroneous charges, and receive pre-emptive alerts, Malhotra said in a speech. AI-driven chatbots and voice recognition tools can also be used to eliminate language barriers in a linguistically diverse country like India, Malhotra added. He also called for financial institutions to invest in human capital to improve customer service and grievance redressal processes. (Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)

AI in Banking: RBI Calls for Smarter Grievance Redressal Systems

Disclaimer: This content generated by AI & may have errors or hallucinations. Edit before use. Read our Terms of use In an inaugural address at the Annual Conference of the RBI Ombudsmen, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra urged financial institutions to adopt AI for grievance redressal. The conference, organized around World Consumer Rights Day (March 15), focused on achieving consumer satisfaction through various measures. The governor's speech adds to RBI's increasing interaction with AI. In December 2024, the central bank constituted an eight-member panel to develop a framework for ethical AI in the financial sector, and its subsidiary unit, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH), unveiled MuleHunterAI -- a tool designed to detect and flag mule bank accounts involved in financial fraud. Previously, in October 2024, former RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das warned that increased reliance on AI and ML technologies posed financial stability and concentration risks. This added to the concerns of AI use in the financial space like bias and transparency outlined and challenges like data privacy concerns and "lack of explainability" outlined by RBI's Deputy Governor Rajeshwar Rao in previous addresses. Moving forward, while RBI's push for AI-driven grievance redressal is significant, the concept itself is not new. E-commerce platforms like Meesho, Dukaan, and Booking.com, alongside government initiatives such as the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) 2.0 and the Kumbh Sah'AI'yak, have already incorporated AI chatbot capabilities to facilitate customer service. Also Read:

India's central bank governor calls on banks to adopt AI to address consumer complaints

March 17 (Reuters) - India's central bank-regulated entities can leverage artificial intelligence internal controls to address consumer complaints on mis-selling and aggressive practices, central bank governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Monday. Ninety-five commercial banks in India received over 10 million customer complaints in the 2023-2024 financial year, Malhotra said. "With the rapidly growing customer base and expanding suite of products, this may grow if we do not get our act together," he added. Financial institutions can use AI to analyse large volumes of data to detect spikes in issues such as ATM failures or erroneous charges, and receive pre-emptive alerts, Malhotra said in a speech. AI-driven chatbots and voice recognition tools can also be used to eliminate language barriers in a linguistically diverse country like India, Malhotra added. He also called for financial institutions to invest in human capital to improve customer service and grievance redressal processes. (Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)