NCH 1915: the consumer helpline emergency walkthrough

If you are short on time, jump to filing in 6 minutes and pick whichever route (phone, web, app or WhatsApp) is closest to your screen right now.

The National Consumer Helpline is a grievance-mediation channel run by the Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. It is the consumer-side counterpart of the 1930 cyber-fraud helpline. Where 1930 handles money lost to a fraudster, 1915 handles money or service withheld by a legitimate seller who is refusing to honour a refund, replacement, warranty, delivery promise or service contract.

The helpline operates from the INGRAM (Integrated Grievance Redress Mechanism) portal, the same system you see at consumerhelpline.gov.in. Every call, web submission, WhatsApp message and app filing lands in the same docket database. The complaint number you receive is a single ID across all channels.

NCH is not a court. It cannot order a refund, impose a penalty or grant compensation. What it does is forward your complaint to the company with a request to resolve it, track the response, and escalate inside DoCA if the company stalls. About 70 per cent of complaints close at this stage, according to DoCA's 2024-25 annual report, because the convergence partners would rather settle one ticket than burn the SLA scoreboard.

You have been refused a refund. The customer-care WhatsApp goes unanswered. The seller's email bounces back with a templated apology. The temptation is to head straight to the consumer commission via e-Daakhil, pay the fee and file. Don't.

There are three reasons NCH comes first.

1. It is free. No fee, no lawyer, no notarised affidavit, no court timing. A 5-minute call resolves about 7 in 10 cases.
2. It produces admissible paperwork. The NCH docket, the company's response (or non-response), the timeline log — all of it is evidence at the consumer commission. Filing at NCH first strengthens the consumer commission case.
3. The Consumer Protection Act 2019 expects mediation. §74 of the Act and Rule 12 of the Consumer Protection (Mediation) Regulations 2020 push mediation as the preferred first attempt. A commission can pause your case to refer it back to mediation. Filing NCH first means you have already tried that.

If you are reading this because the seller is refusing a refund on a quick-commerce or food order, also bookmark the food delivery refund playbook, AC repair refund guide and airline baggage complaint walkthrough — they cover the sector-specific drafting NCH uses.

NCH does:

1. Register your grievance in INGRAM and issue a docket number within minutes.
2. Forward the complaint to the company's nodal grievance officer (if they are a convergence partner) or to the email on the company's website (if they are not).
3. Telephonic mediation in some categories — a counsellor will conference-call you and the company representative.
4. Track responses against the convergence-partner SLA and escalate inside DoCA.
5. Pre-litigation evidence — the docket, the company's reply and the timestamp log are admissible at consumer commissions.
6. Refer up to sector regulators (RBI, IRDAI, TRAI, SEBI, DGCA) when the dispute is technically with a regulated entity.

NCH does not:

1. Order a refund or impose any penalty. It is mediation, not adjudication.
2. Handle cyber fraud where the money went to a fraudster's account — that is 1930 territory.
3. Handle banking ombudsman matters directly — payment failures, unauthorised debits and card disputes go to the RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme under RBI-OS 2021.
4. Pursue criminal complaints — if there is forgery, cheating under BNS or counterfeit goods, NCH will tell you to file an FIR.
5. Give legal advice. Counsellors describe the procedure, not the merits.

This is the part most citizens do not know. DoCA runs a “convergence partner” scheme under which large sellers, e-commerce platforms, telecoms, airlines, banks and insurers sign on to receive NCH grievances on a dedicated dashboard and respond inside a fixed SLA.

As of 2026, the registry covers about 1,100 companies. The list publicly available on the INGRAM portal includes Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Myntra, Snapdeal, Tata CLiQ, Reliance Digital, Croma, Vijay Sales, Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit, Zepto, Instamart, BigBasket, Dunzo, Ola, Uber, Rapido, IndiGo, Vistara (now merged with Air India), Air India, SpiceJet, MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Goibibo, EaseMyTrip, OYO, Treebo, FabHotels, Airbnb India, Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vi, BSNL, Tata Sky, Dish TV, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, Kotak, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Allianz, HDFC Ergo, ICICI Lombard, LIC, Star Health, Niva Bupa, Tata AIG, Pidilite, Asian Paints, Berger, Voltas, Daikin, Bluestar, Whirlpool, LG, Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Apple India, Realme, Vivo, Oppo, Boat, Noise, and most large appliance, automobile and FMCG names. The list grows roughly 80 brands a quarter.

What convergence membership means in practice:

1. The company receives the docket on a DoCA-side dashboard with a flashing SLA timer.
2. First response is expected within 3 working days of receipt.
3. Final resolution is expected within 7 to 15 days depending on category.
4. Failure to respond is logged publicly in DoCA's annual report and on the INGRAM dashboard.
5. The company nominates a convergence nodal officer named in the dashboard, so you can ask for that name during escalation.

Non-partner companies still receive the complaint at their public grievance email, but the SLA timer does not bind them. Resolution rates are noticeably lower outside the partner list.

If you want to check whether a brand is a convergence partner before filing, the search box at consumerhelpline.gov.in under “Company” auto-completes only registered partners. Auto-complete failing is a signal that you may have to file with NCH as a “non-partner” complaint.

Four channels exist. Each does a different job. Use them in this order.

1. NCH 1915 / INGRAM portal, the first step. Free pre-litigation mediation. File for any seller dispute below the criminal-fraud threshold. Typical resolution 7 to 15 days. No monetary cap.
2. e-Daakhil, the online consumer commission filing. Use after NCH mediation fails or the partner ignores the SLA. Fees scale by claim value (zero up to ₹5 lakh; ₹200 for ₹5-10 lakh; up to ₹7,500 for ₹1 crore). Cases under ₹50 lakh go to District Commission; ₹50 lakh to ₹2 crore to State Commission; above ₹2 crore to NCDRC in New Delhi.
3. Consumer commission in person, the offline filing route. Same forums as e-Daakhil. Useful if you need physical document inspection or want a hearing-heavy strategy. NCH paperwork is admitted as Exhibit 1 in most pleadings.
4. Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), the regulator-level escalation at DoCA HQ. Use for systemic violations — dark-pattern advertising, misleading nutrition claims, unsafe products, mass refund denial. CCPA can fine ₹10 lakh for a first violation and ₹50 lakh for a repeat under §21 CPA 2019, and order product recall. Read the 13-pattern dark-patterns survival guide for the CCPA playbook.

A short rule: NCH for one ticket against one seller. CCPA for a pattern across many buyers. e-Daakhil when NCH fails on your one ticket.

NCH accepts complaints over four channels. They all land in the same docket. Pick whichever is closest.

Working hours: 8am to 8pm, all 7 days. Call from any Indian mobile or landline. The IVR asks for your preferred language (17 options), then routes you to a counsellor.

What to say in the first 60 seconds:

1. “I want to file a consumer grievance.”
2. “My name is [full name]. My mobile is [10-digit number].”
3. “The company is [exact registered name, eg. Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd, not just Flipkart].”
4. “The order/booking ID is [paste exact string].”
5. “The amount in dispute is ₹[exact figure].”
6. “What I want: [refund / replacement / delivery / cancellation].”

The counsellor will type this into INGRAM and read back a docket number ending in XXXX/2026. Save it. The call typically lasts 5 to 8 minutes.

Go to https://consumerhelpline.gov.in/ and click “Register Your Complaint”. The form takes you through eight tabs:

1. Personal details — name, email, mobile, address.
2. Category — pick from 80+ categories (e-commerce, telecom, banking, insurance, transport, real estate, education, etc.).
3. Sector and product — drill into the specific item.
4. Company — start typing; convergence partners auto-complete with a green tick.
5. Order details — invoice number, transaction ID, dates.
6. Grievance narrative — 500 to 2,000 characters. Be specific.
7. Relief sought — refund / replacement / repair / cancellation / compensation.
8. Upload — invoice, screenshots, courier proof, correspondence trail. PDF and JPG under 2 MB each, max 10 files.

Submit. You get the docket number on screen and by SMS.

The “NCH” app is on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Same form, smaller screen. The voice-to-text input works in all 17 languages, which is the route most non-English filers use. After submission the app stores your docket history and pushes notifications on company response.

Save +91-8800001915 as a contact. Send “Hi”. The bot walks you through the same fields. Keep your invoice photo ready — the bot accepts image attachments at the upload step. Best for citizens already on a mobile data plan and uncomfortable with web forms.

The UMANG super-app, hosted by NeGD under MeitY, surfaces NCH as a tile inside “Consumer Affairs”. This is helpful if you already use UMANG for Aadhaar, EPFO or other government services and want a single login.

Before you dial or open the form, gather:

1. Full name as on the invoice or order.
2. Registered mobile and email (the operator may verify by OTP).
3. Postal address (for any physical document the company may dispatch).
4. Company name (exact legal name, not the brand short form).
5. Order ID, booking reference or invoice number.
6. Transaction ID if payment was made (UPI UTR / card reference).
7. Date of purchase or service.
8. Date the problem started.
9. Amount in dispute (exact ₹).
10. Two-line factual description — what was promised, what happened.
11. Relief sought — refund / replacement / repair / cancellation / compensation amount.
12. Documentary evidence — invoice PDF, debit SMS screenshot, courier scan, chat logs, marketing pages, packaging photos.

The cleanest filings carry 5 to 8 supporting documents and a 300 to 500 character narrative. Long rambling complaints actually score worse — the counsellor has to summarise them for the company anyway.

NCH is the only consumer redressal channel in India that operates fully in 17 languages: Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Odia, Assamese, Maithili, Santali, Nepali, Konkani, Urdu. Both the phone IVR and the web form support all 17. Counsellor coverage by language is densest 10am to 6pm; outside these hours Hindi and English are guaranteed but regional language wait times can be longer.

If you file in a regional language, the docket is machine-translated to English before forwarding to the company. This usually works for short factual complaints. For technical disputes (warranty terms, contract clauses) attach the supporting documents in their original language and a 100-word English summary, to avoid translation errors.

You will see a docket number in this format: NCH-XX-2026-XXXXXXX or, on older tickets, a shorter sequence. Save it three places: SMS inbox, email, screenshot in your phone gallery.

Inside the next:

1. 1 working day — DoCA forwards the docket to the company's convergence nodal officer (or to their grievance email if non-partner). You will see the status change from “Registered” to “Pending with Company”.
2. 3 working days — first response expected from the company. This may be a clarification request, an acknowledgement, or a resolution offer.
3. 7 to 15 working days — final resolution expected (category-dependent: e-commerce is faster, banking and insurance slower).
4. 30 calendar days — outer SLA limit before DoCA flags the ticket as “Pending — Action Required”.

You can log in at consumerhelpline.gov.in with your docket number and mobile OTP to see the full timeline. The status flow is: Registered → Pending with Company → Company Replied → Action by Consumer → Closed.

If the company replies with an offer, you can accept, reject or request more information. If you reject, the counsellor will attempt mediation. If you stop responding, the docket auto-closes in 60 days.

If mediation fails — the company refuses, ignores, or sends a non-substantive reply — the next step is filing at the consumer commission. The fastest channel is e-Daakhil, the online filing portal hosted at https://edaakhil.nic.in/ by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC).

e-Daakhil routes by claim value:

1. Below ₹50 lakh — District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (DCDRC) of your district.
2. ₹50 lakh to ₹2 crore — State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC).
3. Above ₹2 crore — National Commission (NCDRC) in New Delhi.

Fees scale by value: zero up to ₹5 lakh, ₹200 from ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh, rising to ₹7,500 at ₹1 crore. You upload a complaint affidavit, a list of dates, the documents and the relief prayer. Hearings happen via the NCDRC video conferencing system for districts that have rolled it out.

The 2019 Consumer Protection Act gives a 2-year limitation period from the date the cause of action arose (§69). If NCH mediation has been running, the limitation is treated as paused for that period under §69(2). So filing NCH first does not cost you time, it adds time.

This is the underused part. The complete NCH docket bundle is admissible at the consumer commission as Exhibit 1. It typically includes:

1. The original grievance text (your narrative).
2. The list of supporting documents you uploaded.
3. The timestamp log showing when DoCA forwarded the docket.
4. The company's response (or proof of non-response).
5. The counsellor's mediation notes.

When you file at e-Daakhil, you can download the full docket as a PDF from consumerhelpline.gov.in → My Complaints → Print and attach it. Most consumer commissions accept it without separate authentication. Under §61 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 electronic and digital records are part of the definition of 'document' and are admissible on the same footing as paper documents; §63 sets out the admissibility framework for electronic records (the successor to §65B IEA 1872).

This is why even when you expect the seller to refuse, filing NCH first is worth the 6 minutes. It pre-bakes your evidence.

Citizens lose mediation cases at NCH for predictable reasons. Avoid these.

1. Filing without an invoice or transaction ID. The company will reject the docket as unverifiable. Always upload the receipt or screenshot.
2. Vague narratives. “The product is bad” is unworkable. Write what was promised, what arrived, with dates.
3. Multiple filings for the same grievance. Filing on web, then app, then phone creates three dockets, all of which the company can claim are duplicates. File once, in one channel.
4. Filing against the brand instead of the legal entity. “Amazon” is too vague; “Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd” or “Cloudtail India Pvt Ltd” is precise. For marketplace orders, the seller on the invoice is often a third party, not the platform.
5. Asking for relief NCH cannot give. “Punish them” is not within scope. “Refund ₹4,300 and replace the item” is.
6. Closing the docket prematurely. If you accept a partial refund and close, you cannot reopen the same grievance later. Read the offer carefully.
7. Ignoring the company response. If the company offers and you don't reply for 15 days, the docket auto-closes as “resolved” even if you disagreed. Always respond within 7 days.
8. Treating NCH as a court. NCH cannot impose penalties. For systemic violations, also file with CCPA (the regulator) under §21 CPA 2019.
9. Sending the seller a legal notice during mediation. This often kills the conciliatory mood. Wait for NCH to close negative before escalating.
10. Filing for a service-app dispute without screen recording. Service-app deletions are fast. Read the service-app complaint trap guide before filing for a deleted booking or vanished transaction.

1. Save the invoice or order screenshot to your phone gallery now.
2. Note the company's legal name from the invoice footer (not just the brand).
3. Type a 4-line factual narrative: what you bought, what was promised, what happened, what you want.
4. Dial 1915 if it is between 8am and 8pm; otherwise open https://consumerhelpline.gov.in/ and click “Register Your Complaint”.
5. Save the docket number in three places — SMS, email, gallery screenshot.
6. Set a 7-day calendar reminder to log in and check the response status.
7. If the dispute is a payment failure, also file in parallel at the RBI Integrated Ombudsman.
8. If the dispute is a fraud where money went to a fraudster, switch to the 1930 helpline instead — NCH is not the right channel.
9. For a complaint letter draft, use the AI RTI Drafter — it also drafts NCH and consumer-commission complaints.

Yes. The number is toll-free from every Indian mobile network and landline. There is no charge to register a complaint by phone, web, app or WhatsApp. NCH never asks for payment for mediation. If anyone calling from “NCH” asks for a fee, a courier charge, or your card OTP, it is a scam — hang up and re-verify by calling 1915 yourself.

The phone helpline is staffed 8am to 8pm, all 7 days including national holidays. The web portal and WhatsApp bot accept complaints 24×7, but processing happens during business hours. Counsellor wait times are shortest 9am to 11am on weekdays and after 6pm on weekends.

Yes. NCH operates in 17 languages: Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Odia, Assamese, Maithili, Santali, Nepali, Konkani, Urdu. Both the IVR and the web form are language-switchable. Regional-language counsellor availability is densest 10am to 6pm.

A company that has signed up to receive NCH dockets on a DoCA-side dashboard with a fixed-SLA response commitment. About 1,100 brands as of 2026, including most large e-commerce, telecom, airline, banking and insurance names. Convergence partners must respond inside 3 working days and resolve within 7 to 15 days. The list is searchable on consumerhelpline.gov.in.

For convergence partners, non-response is logged, escalated to the company's nominated nodal officer, and reflected in DoCA's monthly compliance report. After 30 days of inaction, NCH marks the docket “Closed — Non-Responsive” and gives you a closure certificate. You then file at the consumer commission via e-Daakhil attaching the NCH closure note. Non-response is itself evidence of bad faith.

You can, but the RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme 2021 (RBI-OS) is the better channel for payment failures, unauthorised debits, card disputes and UPI complaints — read the RBI-OS walkthrough. NCH usually forwards banking matters to the ombudsman portal anyway. File at RBI-OS directly to save a step.

No. NCH is a mediation channel, not a court. It can only request the company to resolve. If the company refuses, the next step is e-Daakhil for the consumer commission under the Consumer Protection Act 2019, where a forum can order refund plus compensation, interest and costs.

NCH is pre-litigation mediation: free, fast (7 to 15 days), no fee, no adjudication. e-Daakhil is online consumer commission filing: fee-based, adjudicated, binding orders, 6 to 18 months typical timeline. File NCH first, then e-Daakhil only if NCH fails. The NCH docket strengthens the e-Daakhil case.

INGRAM (Integrated Grievance Redress Mechanism) is the back-end platform that powers NCH. When you dial 1915, file at consumerhelpline.gov.in, use the app or WhatsApp, your complaint lands in the INGRAM database. Citizens do not need a separate INGRAM account — all access happens through the consumerhelpline.gov.in front end.

Generally no. NCH handles disputes with sellers and service providers — registered businesses, traders, e-commerce platforms, professionals. Person-to-person disputes (a tenant against a landlord, a neighbour issue, a private sale on OLX without a registered seller) usually fall outside NCH's scope. For OLX/Quikr private-seller scams, file an FIR and follow the 1930 cyber-fraud playbook if money was paid online.

Yes, but they are also escalable to CCPA for stronger action. NCH will register a dark-pattern grievance against an individual seller. For systemic dark-pattern violations (drip pricing, false urgency, basket sneaking across many users), file separately at CCPA — read the 13-pattern survival guide for the CCPA route.

1. https://consumerhelpline.gov.in/, National Consumer Helpline, Department of Consumer Affairs, INGRAM portal
2. https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/, Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
3. https://edaakhil.nic.in/, e-Daakhil National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
4. https://ncdrc.nic.in/, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi
5. https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/15265, Consumer Protection Act 2019
6. https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/sites/default/files/CP%28Mediation%29_Rules-2020.pdf, Consumer Protection (Mediation) Rules 2020
7. https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/sites/default/files/CCPA%20Notification.pdf, Central Consumer Protection Authority notification 2020
8. https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/sites/default/files/file-uploads/latestnews/Guidelines%20for%20Prevention%20and%20Regulation%20of%20Dark%20Patterns%2C%202023.pdf, CCPA Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns 2023, gazetted 30 Nov 2023
9. https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=52549, RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme 2021
10. https://cms.rbi.org.in/, RBI Complaint Management System
11. https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/20063, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 §61 and §63 (electronic records admissibility)

1. The 1930 cyber fraud helpline 7-minute script, the sibling helpline for fraud loss
2. Dark patterns under CCPA 2023, the 13-pattern survival guide
3. Food delivery refund playbook for Swiggy, Zomato and ONDC
4. AC repair refund and compensation guide
5. Airline baggage damaged or delayed, the complaint walkthrough
6. Service-app consumer complaint trap
7. RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme 2021 walkthrough
8. The citizen RTI playbook, the master pillar
9. RTI vs alternatives, when to use which grievance channel
10. Middle-class traps, the consumer dispute hub
11. AI RTI Drafter, drafts NCH and consumer-commission complaints

Last reviewed: 15 May 2026. RTI Wiki editorial team.