| Guideline No. | GD001 |
| Purpose | To clarify the definition of a “grievance” versus a “dispute” as defined in the AA community |
| Description | A grievance – is a query or a complaint raised by either the citizen or an AA participant, with any other AA participant. (The term “AA participant” refers to any of the three entities – AA, FIP, FIU).A dispute – exists when a claim based on a grievance is rejected either whole or in part. Disputes have to be resolved using any of the following methods – negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, litigation. |
| Stage | Finalised |
| Guideline No. | GD002 |
| Purpose | To clarify who is responsible for “grievance redressal” in the AA ecosystem |
| Description | For grievances raised by citizens:As per RBI Master Directions, Account Aggregators must have a board-approved policy, a dedicated set up and an SLA of no more than a month for disposing of customer grievances.In addition, FIUs and FIPs may also have their own grievance redressal setup to handle AA-related grievances of their customers. Such a setup may involve integrating their systems with the grievance redressal system of an AA, to offer a unified response to the customer.
For grievances raised by AA participants: The AA ecosystem is centred around all interactions in the ecosystem flowing through an AA, necessarily. Thus, an AA must have a set-up to redress grievances raised by an AA participant, even if redressing it involves interacting with other AA participants. In addition, AA participants may directly raise grievances with other AA participants. AA participants may also choose to use a Sahamati-hosted support system that allows collaboration amongst AA participants for speedy, effective resolution. If the response to a grievance is rejected either wholly or in part, the citizen or the AA participant may choose to either escalate the same to a regulatory grievance redressal scheme (such as the RBI Ombudsman scheme) or use alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, via an ODR (online Dispute Resolution) agency empaneled by Sahamati. |
| Stage | Finalised |
| Guideline No. | GD003 |
| Purpose | To clarify the dispute resolution mechanisms available for a citizen or an AA participant |
| Description | If a grievance by a citizen or an AA participant escalates to it becoming a “dispute”, one or both of the following resolution mechanisms are available:
The aggrieved party may use any other legal mechanism of its choice. |
| Stage | Finalised |
| Guideline No. | GD004 |
| Purpose | To clarify the costs involved in grievance redressal and/or dispute resolution, if utilising Sahamati’s services |
| Description | This is under discussion within the community. |
| Stage | Under deliberation |
