Internal Ombudsman

Internal Ombudsman, Jupiter Group

Joint appointment by: Amica Finance Private Limited (NBFC) and Amica Payment Services Private Limited (Non-Bank PPI Issuer)

About the Role

The Jupiter group is establishing the office of the Internal Ombudsman (IO) at the apex of customer grievance redress across its two RBI-regulated entities, Amica Finance Private Limited (the NBFC) and Amica Payment Services Private Limited (the PPI issuer). The IO is a statutory function under the RBI (Internal Ombudsman) Directions, 2026, and provides a final, impartial layer of internal review for customer complaints that have been wholly or partially rejected by the grievance teams of either regulated entity.

The IO will be jointly appointed by, and accountable to, the Boards of both entities with separate but coterminous appointment letters and a unified office of the IO. The role operates with full functional independence from business and operations, and is supported (at the Board's discretion) by a Deputy Internal Ombudsman to assist with volume and perimeter-specific handling. Complaints relating to savings accounts, fixed deposits, and co-branded cards issued by partner banks (Federal Bank, CSB Bank, and others) remain within the jurisdiction of those banks' own Internal Ombudsmen; the Jupiter group IO will coordinate handoffs but not adjudicate over such cases.

Key Responsibilities

1. Cross-Perimeter Complaint Adjudication Independently review every complaint that the grievance redress mechanism of either Amica Finance or Amica Payment Services proposes to reject, wholly or partly, before final response to the customer. Complaints are auto-escalated to the IO's office through each entity's complaint management system within RBI-prescribed timelines. The IO assesses each case for procedural fairness, policy adherence, and regulatory compliance, and issues a decision that is binding on the respective regulated entity save where the Competent Authority secures Board-level approval to disagree, with a complete audit trail. Where the IO upholds a rejection, the customer reply must explicitly state that the matter has been examined by the IO.

2. Regulatory Compliance & RBI Interface Ensure full compliance with the RBI (Internal Ombudsman) Directions, 2026, and the RB-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme as applicable to NBFCs and non-bank PPI issuers. Maintain read-only access to the RBI's Complaint Management System for both entities to track cases forwarded by RBI Ombudsman offices and decisions of the RBI Ombudsman / Appellate Authority. Ensure all IO decisions are mandatorily included in submissions made by either entity to the RBI Ombudsman in respect of escalated complaints. Where applicable, recommend compensation in line with the RB-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme.

3. Root Cause & Trend Analysis Analyse complaint patterns across both regulated perimeters covering personal loans, earned-wage access, co-lending exposures, partner-NBFC arrangements, wallet/PPI services, UPI flows, and digital lending journeys. Surface systemic issues, biased outcomes, and recurring failure modes, including those arising from algorithmic underwriting, third-party LSP/DLA conduct, and recovery practices. Translate insights into concrete recommendations for policy, product, and process correction, and drive preventive action with business owners across the group.

4. Board Engagement & Reporting Submit quarterly reports separately to the Customer Service Committee of each Board (Amica Finance and Amica Payment Services), with submissions due by the 15th of the month following each quarter as required under the 2026 Directions. Reports will cover complaint volumes, turnaround times, IO overturn rates, top complaint categories, repeat-failure trends, and emerging conduct-risk areas, on a perimeter-wise and consolidated basis. Serve as a permanent invitee to Board meetings of both entities as required.

5. Stakeholder Collaboration & Escalation Coordination Partner with Customer Support, Risk & Compliance, Product, Operations, Lending Service Providers, and the Principal Nodal Officers of both regulated entities to ensure timely implementation of IO recommendations. Coordinate with Internal Ombudsmen at partner banks and partner NBFCs (where Jupiter operates as DLA/LSP) to ensure clean handoffs across regulated perimeters. Operate as a neutral escalation authority across functions without taking on operational ownership of complaint handling.

6. Independence & Ethics Maintain complete independence, confidentiality, and freedom from commercial pressure. Stay deliberately removed from first-level complaint handling, the Principal Nodal Officer function at either entity, and all line-management responsibilities, so as to preserve the integrity and statutory standing of the office.

Eligibility Criteria (Aligned with RBI Internal Ombudsman Directions, 2026)

Mandatory (regulatory)

• Currently serving or retired officer, in a rank equivalent to General Manager (or above) in a bank, another NBFC, a non-bank PPI issuer, a CIC, or a financial sector regulatory body. Serving officers must relinquish their existing position before assuming charge.
• Minimum 7 years of working experience in one or more of: banking, non-banking finance, financial sector regulation/supervision, payment and settlement systems, credit information, or consumer protection.
• Must not have been previously employed by, nor presently be employed by, Amica Finance Private Limited, Amica Payment Services Private Limited, Amica Financial Technologies Limited (Jupiter), or any holding, associate, or subsidiary company within the Jupiter group. This is a hard regulatory bar internal candidates and former group employees are not eligible.
• Cannot simultaneously hold the office of Principal Nodal Officer at either regulated entity.
• Will not be over 70 years of age at any point during the tenure.

Preferred

• Prior experience as an Internal Ombudsman, Banking Ombudsman, Principal Nodal Officer, or in a senior compliance / grievance-redress role at a regulated entity.
• Working familiarity with digital lending, PPI/wallet operations, partner-bank/co-lending models, and fintech-specific complaint typologies.
• Experience interfacing with RBI's CEPD, Department of Supervision, and Department of Payment and Settlement Systems.

Success Metrics

• Ratio of complaints overturned vs. upheld at IO review, perimeter-wise and consolidated, with trend tracking
• Reduction in repeat complaint categories quarter-on-quarter across both entities
• Improvement in post-escalation customer satisfaction
• Clean RBI supervisory observations across both entities (Department of Supervision for the NBFC; DPSS for the PPI issuer)
• Sustained reduction in escalations from Amica Finance and Amica Payment Services to the RBI Ombudsman
• Adherence to RBI-mandated resolution timelines, including the 2025 day auto-escalation window prescribed under the 2026 Directions