The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. Retail payments refer to transactions made by individuals or businesses for goods and services. These payments are usually small in value but involve a large number of transactions. Settlement systems facilitate the transfer of funds between parties involved in a transaction. The mechanism ensures that the funds are transferred securely and in a timely manner. The NPCI operates such systems to facilitate digital payments in India.
NPCI was established in 2008 and is a non-profit organization. It functions under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). It offers various payment services like IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), UPI (Unified Payments Interface), AEPS (Aadhar Enabled Payment Service), NACH (National Automated Clearing House), and more. All of these are designed to make digital payments convenient, secure, and accessible to everyone in the country, steering the country toward a cashless economy.
The GRD, or the Grievance Redressal Desk, of NPCI is tasked with accepting customer issues through various channels like the phone, email, or the NPCI website. It consolidates the complaints and registers them in a centralized system and assigns a unique reference number to each complaint for tracking purposes. It investigates the issues and works in coordination with banks and merchants to resolve the problems. The desk keeps the customer updated about the status/progress of their complaints. It also takes help from other departments within NPCI or relevant external agencies when it cannot resolve a complex problem or if it lies outside the scope of its function.
NPCI’s GRD plays a crucial role in addressing issues related to payment systems, and working hard to maintain the company’s reputation.
Types of Redressal Issues at NPCI
Customers may face different types of issues while using various payment systems. We have listed a few common grievances below.
1) Failed Transactions: Customers can raise a concern if amounts get debited from their accounts but the transaction fails midway.
2) Delayed Transactions: Transactions where the payment is initiated by the customer, but the recipient does not receive the payment within the expected timeframe. Using the IMPS or the UPI services, transactions are expected to be processed and completed almost instantly but technical issues or network connectivity problems can delay the transaction, causing customer inconvenience.
Some transactions like those made through NACH or AEPS, however, involve multiple parties and several verification steps, and hence take longer to complete. The GRD must inform the customer accordingly and assure them of completion of transaction in the expected timeframe.
3) Refunds: If transactions fail, remain incomplete, in case of duplicate transactions, or unauthorized transactions, customers can seek refunds. They can raise a refund request with the bank or through the payment system through which the transaction was initiated. Many times an amount gets debited erroneously from the customer’s account, hence they can request refunds.
4) Unauthorized Transactions: Customers often report unauthorized transactions that show huge amounts of debits in their accounts. In such scenarios, customers can seek refunds for the entire amount debited from their accounts.
5) Technical Issues: Customers can face technical issues while using the payment systems like downtime, slow processing, or system errors.
6) Disputes with Merchants: Customers may have disputes with merchants regarding payment or delivery of goods/services.
7) Aadhar-related Issues: Customers may face issues related to Aadhaar authentication such as biometric failure or incorrect authentication.
How to Contact for Grievance Redressal
Customers who face grievances or issues related to the payment systems operated by the NPCI can contact its grievance redressal desk. They can contact the GRD through the following channels.
Send an Email: Customers can register their complaints at npci@npci.org.in.
Phone: If you have a grievance, you can call at the toll-free number 1800-120-1740 to register your complaint.
Online Form: Visit the link here and fill out the online complaint form, and submit it. Someone from their team will reach out to resolve the matter for you. Your complaint can be on person-to-person or person-to-merchant transaction, PIN related, changing or removing of account or not receiving OTP through SMS.
Get on Twitter: Here is the official Twitter account where you can tweet and share your recent experience or unresolved complaint.
You will be required to provide all relevant details like transaction reference number, amount, date, time of the transaction, and the name of the bank or the payment system through which the transaction was initiated. The more accurate details you provide the more you help the GRD to investigate the issue thoroughly for a strong resolution.
If you are not happy with the resolutions provided by the GRD, you can approach the banking ombudsman or the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
