Consumer helplines see spurt in dispute complaints, refunds

ALegal age of consumers using a subject toll-free helpline to lumber complaints feature received refunds charles frederick worth crores for an array of faulty products and deficient services, potentially avoiding messy litigation processes, official data reviewed by HT showed.In one instance, in July, a beneficiary of statutory food grains under the public distribution system (PDS) got his monthly ration, a lifeline for 800 million Indians, restored after a four-month gap after logging a call.The complainant from Bihar’s Nalanda district dialled 1915 when the local fair-price shop denied him food repeatedly, according to his case bearing docket number 7563209.The helpline is meant to be a first-line option for grievance redressal under the Consumer Protection Act and aimed at resolving uncomplicated disputes, officials said.In July, complainants got refunds of nearly ₹2.7 crore, while in the previous month, refunds totalled ₹3 crore. Disputes in e-commerce and online sales topped complaints, followed by online travel bookings, the data showed. The total compensation over the past three months amounted to slightly over ₹7 crore.According to the consumer affairs ministry, consumers are now increasingly using the helpline to log complaints that are taken up by the consumer affairs department under the Consumer Protection Act 2019.Adoption of digital channels has also surged, with grievance registration via WhatsApp rising from 3% in March 2023 to 20% in March 2025, the data showed.Call volumes have increased more than tenfold, from 12,553 in December 2015 to 155,138 in December 2024. Similarly, average monthly complaint registrations have grown from 37,062 in 2017 to 111,951 in 2024, the data showed.Any consumer can call the toll-free helpline 1915 and register complaints in 17 languages.The helpline officials mandated to take up complaints play a crucial pre-litigation role in resolving consumer grievances promptly and this helps to reduce the burden on consumer commissions, which are courts set up under the Act, consumer affairs secretary Nidhi Khare said.The data showed, after e-commerce, the highest number of complaints were related to the travel and tourism sector, which saw refunds of ₹81 lakh.E-commerce now commands a significant penetration in tier-two and tier-three cities in India and sales reached an estimated $125 billion in 2024, according to Statista,a data company. Complaints were received from across states and Union territories, including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the ministry’s data showed.