National Consumer Helpline

The National Consumer Helpline is a project formulated by the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The sole mission of the Helpline is to offer telephonic advice, essential information and guidance in order to empower Indian consumers and to persuade businesses to reorient their policies and management systems. This would address the concerns and grievances of a consumer by adopting world-class standards as well. This article talks about the National Consumer Helpline in detail and the various aspects of the same.

Overview

The National Consumer Helpline is a project overseen by the Department of Consumer Affairs of the Government of India. It is executed by the Central Government for Consumer Studies at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. It focuses on the need of consumers for a telephonic helpline in order to deal with all the problems arising in their everyday involvement with multiple businesses and service providers. The National Consumer Helpline offers the appropriate advice, information and guidance to empower every consumer and to prompt businesses to reorient their policy and management systems to address the concerns and grievances of the consumer better by adopting global standards. A consumer from any part of the country may call the National Consumer Helpline at 1800-11-4000, a national toll-free number, to seek information, advice and guidance for their queries and complaints. It offers advice to consumers dealing with issues concerning defective products, inefficiency in services and unfair trade practices.

Vision and Mission

The following is the vision of the Nation Consumer Helpline.

"A Nation of awakened, empowered and responsible consumers and socially and legally responsible Corporations."

The following is the mission of the Nation Consumer Helpline.

"To provide telephonic advice, information and guidance to empower Indian consumers and persuade businesses to reorient their policy and management systems to address consumer concerns and grievances adopting world-class standards ."

Functions

The National Consumer Helpline offers support to consumers by:

Guiding and advising consumers in finding solutions to all the problems related to Products and Services.
Providing appropriate information concerning Companies and Regulatory Authorities.
Help consumers to complaints against defaulting Service Providers.
Empowering every consumer to use the Consumer Grievances Redressal Mechanisms.
Generating awareness amongst the consumers about their rights and responsibilities.

Sectors Covered

Airlines
Automobiles
Banking
Domestic Appliances
Electricity
Food Safety
Insurance
Legal
Legal Metrology
NBFCs
PDS
Postal
Petroleum/ LPG/ PNG
Real Estate
Telecom

INGRAM

The Integrated Grievance Redressal Mechanism was launched as a part of the National Consumer Helpline by the Department of Consumer Affairs. It was created to promote awareness, advise and redress a consumer's complaints and grievances. It acts as a central registry for lodging consumer grievances. With all the efforts made to address a consumer's grievances, all requests and complaints may not be completely or satisfactorily resolved. Therefore, this portal acts as an alternate dispute redressal mechanism. If a consumer is not satisfied, they may approach the appropriate Consumer Commission to escalate the matter forward. The Integrated Grievance Redress Mechanism (INGRAM) was started with the aim of bringing every stakeholder like Consumers, Central Government Agencies, State Government Agencies, Private Companies, Regulators, Ombudsmen and Call Centres onto a single platform. This portal will also assist in creating awareness amongst consumers to inform them and protect their rights and responsibilities. Consumers may register their grievances through this online portal.

Guidance in Local languages

State Consumer Helplines are set up by various State Governments in order to advise and guide consumers in their regional language. This has been initiated to cater to the requirements of the local people, particularly the rural masses. The advisors on call at State Consumer Helplines (SCHs) will offer pre-purchase information and post-purchase advice along with essential guidance. They also provide the advice required for the next-step for resolution and redress in Hindi, English and other local languages. The Department of Consumer Affairs has set the portal for State Consumer Helpline Knowledge Resource Management under the Central Government for Consumer Studies in the Indian Institute of Public Administration at New Delhi. The portal links various State Consumer Helplines (SCHs) situated in multiple States on a common IT platform and monitors the various activities of the State Helplines. The States may access the website hosted by the Portal for offering information and providing counsel to their consumers.

NCH Mobile Application

The mission of the National Consumer Helpline mobile software application is to offer services and support consumers at a finger touch. This includes the following as well:

Guiding and advising consumers in finding solutions to all the problems related to Products and Services.
Providing appropriate information concerning Companies and Regulatory Authorities.
Help consumers to complaints against defaulting Service Providers and empowering them to use the Consumer Grievances Redressal Mechanisms.
Generating awareness amongst the consumers about their rights and responsibilities.

The National Consumer Helpline mobile app is designed specifically for the Indian consumer and provides information about various consumer durable products and services. Typically, these are products and services that the consumer is contemplating to purchase. A consumer may choose to enquire about the same through the Product and Services Information Software System and offering the facility for consumers to file their grievances against defaulting Service Providers through the Consumer Enquiry and Complaint Handling and Management Software System.

Installation Procedure

The following is a procedure that has to be followed by a user to install the National Consumer Helpline Mobile Application. Step 1: Open the Google Play Store application on your smartphone. Step 2: Search for NCH or NCHMobiApp in the field given for the same option. Step 3: The NCHMobiApp will be displayed with an icon of the Jago Grahak Jago campaign. Step 4: Click on the Install icon in green on the page. Step 5: Log in to the Play Store with your Google account. Step 6: Install the application. Step 7: If pre-installed, it will replace with the old with the latest version. Step 8: Open the NCH application and log in with valid credentials. Step 9: You may begin to use the National Consumer Portal on your smartphone to avail multiple services.

Contact Information

The official portal of the National Consumer Helpline may be accessed here. For more information, advice and guidance on consumer related problems, contact the following numbers.

Contact:

Toll Free Number: 1800-11-4000 Short Code - 14404 NOTE: This toll-free line is active on all days from 09.30 AM to 05.30 PM. A consumer may also register their complaint via the mobile application for the National Consumer Helpline called the "Consumer App" by the Department of Consumer Affairs.