Consumer Disputes in the Financial Sector – Grievance Redress by Courts
Indian Law Review
Abstract
This paper studies how courts in India have dealt with consumer disputes in the financial sector. It reviews the most cited cases to study the position that courts have taken in banking and insurance disputes. For the cases studied, it finds that courts have generally granted relief to consumers in banking disputes. In the case of insurance cases, courts have emphasized contractual compliance. This is so even when the contracts themselves were opaque or had unfair terms. The paper also finds that courts award low compensation and take a long time for adjudication. These issues are compounded by the shortcomings in the framework of courts – they tend to award low compensation in banking and insurance cases, take a long time for adjudication, do not have systems for class action suits, and lack specialization to deal with consumer disputes in the financial sector.
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About the Authors
Karan Gulati is a Research Fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and a lawyer in Delhi. Previously, Karan held positions at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), where he worked on regulatory governance and judicial administration. He has been an occasional columnist for the Leap Blog, Indian Express, Times of India, and the Quint. Karan holds degrees in law and management from Symbiosis University.
Dr. Renuka Sane is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
