Small investors, salaried can now buy govt. bonds easily: PM

Modi says RBI’s Retail Direct, Integrated Ombudsman put ‘citizen at the centre’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday kicked off two Reserve Bank of India (RBI) initiatives to make it easier for small investors to directly invest in government securities and provide a simpler single-window redressal mechanism for customers of RBI-regulated entities such as banks, finance companies and payment service providers.

Three existing ombudsman schemes of the RBI for banking, non-banking financial companies and digital transactions will be integrated, and will provide ‘cost-free redress of customer complaints involving deficiency in services’, the RBI said.

“These schemes will make it easier for small investors to... invest in a safe and simple manner in government securities,” Mr. Modi said. Stressing that proactive resolution of citizen’s grievances was the very cornerstone of democracy, he added that an integrated ombudsman would serve as a facility “where all grievances of the people can be redressed”.