National Consumer Helpline partners with 1,000+ companies to boost grievance redressal

The National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has reached a significant milestone by partnering with over 1,000 companies under its Convergence Programme, marking a major step forward in expediting grievance resolution.

These partnerships span industries including e-commerce, travel, education, FMCG, consumer durables, and banking, enabling complaints to be directly routed to companies for swift online resolution.

The Convergence Programme has seen substantial growth, rising from 263 partners in 2017 to 1,009 in 2024. This expansion underscores the programme's role in fostering transparency and accountability, while also ensuring consumer grievances are addressed at the pre-litigation stage.

Consumers are further encouraged to escalate unresolved issues to the Consumer Commission under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

To bolster its oversight, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) has identified the top ten non-convergence companies receiving the most complaints the fiscal year. These include names such as Delhivery Limited, Domino's Pizza, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Rapido.

NCH has undergone a significant transformation in its call-handling capacity, reflecting growing consumer reliance on its services.

From receiving 14,795 calls in January 2015, the helpline now handles over 1,41,817 calls monthly as of January 2024. Monthly registered complaints have surged from 37,062 in 2017 to 1,12,468 in 2024.

Further improvements are on the horizon with the upcoming NCH 2.0 initiative, which will introduce AI-based Speech Recognition, a Translation System, and a Multilingual Chatbot. These tools aim to make grievance filing seamless, particularly for consumers in regional and vernacular languages.

The AI-powered systems will enable voice-based complaint registration in local languages and real-time assistance, reducing manual intervention and improving efficiency.

Operating in 17 languages, NCH remains the central grievance redressal platform for consumers, accessible via its toll-free number 1915 and the Integrated Grievance Redressal Mechanism (INGRAM) portal.

Consumers can lodge complaints through multiple channels, including WhatsApp, SMS, email, mobile apps, and web portals, solidifying NCH's position as a cornerstone of consumer protection in India.