RBI announces centralized digital payment helpline to address consumer grievance

The Reserve Bank of India announces to develop a transparent and customer-friendly mechanism (ODR) for redressal of customer complaints; National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has started UPI-Help on BHIM UPI.

BHIM UPI app users will now be able to troubleshoot their problems in a better and hassle-free manner.

UPI Unified Payment Interface allows you to send money instantly from one account to another via mobile phone. Payments can be made only through mobile through the app. To use UPI, you must have a bank account.

BHIM UPI users can use the app for the following tasks-

1. Check status for pending transactions
2. File a complaint related to Merchant Transactions
3. Complaints can be resolved online for person-to-person (P2P) transactions through UPI-HELP.
4. In case of pending transactions where the user does not take any action, UPI-HELP will also continuously try to auto-update the final status of the transaction on the app.

Initially, NPCI has started this service on BHIM app for the customers of State Bank of India, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. Soon customers of Paytm Payments Bank and TJSB Co-operative Bank will also be able to take advantage of UPI-HELP. Users of other banks participating in UPI will be able to take advantage of UPI-Help in the coming months.

RBI’s initiative to introduce ODR is motivating customers to confidently adopt digital payments and to follow the path of cashless transactions. Other banks are also gearing up to implement UPI-HELP in order to create a focused digital payment ecosystem for customer protection.

After the introduction of UPI-HELP, surely more users will be able to conduct UPI transactions with more confidence than before and thus there is a possibility of a significant increase in the number of people adopting digital payment systems.