New Delhi, Feb 4 The National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has emerged as the key point of redressal of consumer grievances, functioning in 17 languages along with help of an AI-based speech recognition system, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.
The number of calls received by NCH has grown more than 10-fold -- from 12,553 in December 2015 to 1,55,138 in December 2024.
Similarly, the average number of complaints registered per month has surged from 37,062 in 2017 to 1,12,468 in 2024.
Additionally, grievance registration via WhatsApp has gained momentum, with the percentage of complaints filed through the platform increasing from 3 per cent in March 2023 to 18 per cent in December 2024, demonstrating a growing preference for digital communication channels, said Minister of State for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, B.L. Verma in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
The helpline is available in 17 languages, including Hindi, English, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Nepali, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Maithili, Santhali, Bengali, Odia, Assamese and Manipuri, allowing consumers from all regions to register their grievances via the toll-free number 1915.
“The helpline operates in a dedicated manner from 8 am to 8 pm on all seven days of the week, except on national holidays. To enhance accessibility further, a call-back facility is available. An exclusive call centre has been established to ensure prompt service,” the minister informed.
The number of convergence partners has steadily increased from 263 companies in 2017 to 1,038 companies till now. The technological transformation of the NCH has significantly boosted its call-handling capacity.
In a significant move to further enhance grievance redressal, NCH has introduced AI-based Speech Recognition, a Translation System, and an AI enabled Chatbot as part of the NCH 2.0 initiative.
The AI-enabled Chatbot provides real-time assistance, streamlining complaint-handling processes, and improving the overall user experience. These upgrades ensure that consumers from diverse linguistic backgrounds have equal access to the grievance redressal system.
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