[Resolved]  ICICI Bank — Delay in refund of demand draft amount

Address:

New Delhi, Delhi, 110091

On 29th July, 2015, I had placed a request from Geneva (Switzerland) on ICICI Net banking for issuance of a Demand Draft for Rs. 10, 204/- favouring Life Insurance Corporation of India, Branch 12B, Splendour Mall, Jasola, New Delhi. The draft amount and its commission was to be debited to my NRO Account No.[protected] with ICICI Bank, Mayur Vihar branch, Delhi 110091.

In response, on 30 July, I received the following mail from ICICI Bank Customer Service:-


"From:"CUSTOMERSERVICE"
Date:Thu, 30 Jul, 2015 at 17:42
Subject:Status of your SR[protected]
Dear Customer,

Greetings from ICICI Bank.

The Demand Draft 667611 has been sent via BLUE DART Courier, AWB '[protected] on 30-JUL-15. The beneficiary will receive it within 7 wkg days.

Sincerely,


Customer Service Team.
ICICI Bank Limited.

This is an auto generated e-mail. Please do not reply."

I promptly forwarded this message to LIC, Branch 12B to alert them of the same.

On my retirement from government service, I returned to India in November 2015 and immediately got my NRE and NRO Savings Accounts (including Acct No.[protected] closed and opened a new Resident Savings Bank Account.

During my visit to the LIC office in early February, 2016, I was informed by them that DD No. 667611 issued by ICICI Bank on 30th July, 2015, never reached them.

Since February 2016, Mr. Ashish Kumar, my Relationship Manager at ICICI Securities has been pursuing this matter with the Bank. He has been able to confirm with the Bank that the amount of Rs. 10, 204/- has not been received by LIC and the amount is still in the sundry account of the Bank. He informed me that since my NRO Account No.[protected] has since been closed by me, the Bank would be sending me a Draft for Rs. 10, 204/-. Despite his best efforts since February 2016, I am yet to receive the refund draft.

Rather than voluntarily refunding the amount, the Bank has been holding on to this money since July 2015, despite my repeated requests to refund the same to me through DD or by crediting it to my Resident Savings Account No.[protected] with ICICI Bank, Mayur Vihar Branch, Delhi. The address for dispatch of the DD was also clearly mentioned in my mails to the bank.

I am surprised that the banks, including ICICI, end up with bad loans by indiscriminately lending in crores to HNIs and here it is trying to block a paltry sum of Rs. 10, 204/- which genuinely belongs to one of its customers.

Can your forum kindly help me get the refund. As a last resort, I will need to approach the banking ombudsman, but I would rather avoid this option as far as possible.