Grievance Redressal Policy

1. Introduction

Saarathi Finance and Credit Private Limited (“Saarathi Finance”/ “the Company”) is driven by the value of Customer- centricity and we believe that providing timely support to the Customers is the key to inherent this value.

Purpose of the Policy is to define the Customer Grievance Redressal process for the Company in accordance with the Master Direction- Reserve Bank of India (NonBanking Financial Company- Scale Based Regulation) Directions, 2023, notification No. RBI/DoR/2023-24/106 DoR.FIN.REC.No.45/03.10.119/2023-24 updated as of March 21, 2024.

The objective of this policy is to provide a framework for handling customer complaints and grievances through proper service, delivery and review mechanisms and to ensure prompt redressal of customer complaints and grievances.

2. Principles of policy

• All customers are always treated fairly and in unbiased manner.
• Employees work in good faith and without prejudice to the interest of the customers.
• All complaints are treated efficiently and fairly.
• Complaints raised by customers are dealt with courtesy and on time.
• Customers should be made fully aware of the avenues to escalate their complaints/grievances within the organization and their rights for alternative remedy if they are not fully satisfied with the response or resolutions provided by the Company’s officials.

3. Scope of Grievance Redressal

The processes contained in the policy document shall apply to all branches, offices and locations of the Company and shall apply to all activities which involve customer interaction.

4. Modes of raising grievances/complaints

The company provides multiple channels to customers for seeking support and registering their complaints/ grievances as mentioned hereunder:

• Branch walk-in: Customers may walk-in to the nearest branch during any working day and lodge their complaint with the Branch Manager.
• Email id: Customer can raise the grievance through the E-mail IDs outlined in the Grievance redressal matrix by following the levels.
• Website: Customer may access the Customer Complaints section on the website of the Company- www.saarathifinance.com.
• Phone Call: Customers can call our Contact Centre from 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM (excluding 2nd Saturday and Sundays andpublic holidays). Details of the Contact Centre have been provided below.
• Letters: Customers can also write a letter to the addressed specified in the grievance redressal matrix.

5. Grievance Redressal Procedure

Responsibilities of the Grievance Redressal Officer and the Customer Service team comprise of:

• Ensuring timely closure of customer complaints
• Enabling multiple channels for grievances redressal
• Providing inputs and suggesting changes to reduce customer complaints

Multiple levels of grievance redressal channels available for customers are as below:

The customer may choose to refer the complaint/ feedback to Level 2 or 3 if the customer is not satisfied with the resolution provided by Level 1 or 2 (as the case may be).

If the customer is not satisfied with the resolution provided by Level 2, the customer may escalate the matter to Level 3 i.e. Principal Nodal Officer.

In case the customer does not receive a response from the company within a period of one month or are dissatisfied with the response received after following all the above steps, the customer can approach the Ombudsmen office of the Reserve Bank of India as per details given in Salient Features of RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme displayed on the website and available in the branch office.

6. Grievance Redressal Turn Around Time (TAT)

Depending on the nature of grievance, specific timelines have been set for the resolutions as below:

*Where the Company needs to provide the corrected partculars of the credit informaton to the Credit Informaton Company (CIC)/Bureau or complainant within a period of 21 days from the date when the Company was informed of the inaccuracy in the credit informaton.

Note The company shall resolve all issues and grievances of the customer as per the TAT defined above. However, the complaint received from/through RBI Ombudsman office will be resolved within 15 days or within the time prescribed by the RBI Ombudsman office.

7. Grievance from Persons with disabilites

All channels will be available for persons with disability to register their grievance. For walk-in customers, required assistance will be provided by the branch offices. The Company shall ensure redressal of grievances of persons with disabilities under the Grievance Redressal Mechanism as explained above.

8. Employee Training and awareness

Based on the analysis of complaints handled, training to staff would be provided to raise awareness among the frontline staff about, the pattern of complaints being received, their root causes, remedial measures and expected action on the part of frontline staff.

9. Review Mechanism

All grievances/ complaints to be highlighted to the Risk Management Committee at quarterly intervals. A summary of the complaints received, resolution and pending complaints should be provided to the Risk Management Committee.

10. Review of Policy

This Policy is subject to review by the board of directors of the Company as and when deemed necessary. The board of directors of the Company shall annually review the functioning of the grievance redressal mechanism.