SRINAGAR: Consumer complaints registered from Jammu and Kashmir through the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) increased by nearly 78 per cent over the last three financial years, with the Centre informing Parliament that all grievances received from the Union Territory were disposed of.
Replying to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs B.L. Verma said Jammu and Kashmir recorded 8,443 consumer complaints in 2023-24, which rose to 9,074 in 2024-25 and further to 15,031 in 2025-26. The ministry said all complaints received during these three years were resolved.
The National Consumer Helpline, operated through the Integrated Grievance Redressal Mechanism (INGRAM), serves as a pre-litigation platform for consumer grievance redressal. Consumers can register complaints through a toll-free number, WhatsApp, SMS, email, the NCH portal, mobile application and the UMANG platform in 17 languages, including Kashmiri.
Nationally, the helpline received and disposed of 12.36 lakh complaints in 2023-24, 13.16 lakh in 2024-25 and 20.49 lakh in 2025-26. The average disposal time improved significantly from 63 days in 2023-24 to 53 days in 2024-25 and 28 days in 2025-26.
The ministry informed Parliament that e-commerce remained the largest source of consumer complaints during all three years, accounting for 5,77,748 grievances in 2025-26 alone. Food, consumer durables, electronic products, telecom, NBFCs, automobiles and banking were among the other leading sectors generating complaints.
According to the reply, the National Consumer Helpline facilitated consumer refunds exceeding ₹91 crore between 25 April 2025 and 30 June 2026 by resolving more than 1.47 lakh refund-related grievances at the pre-litigation stage.
The government said it has allocated Rs 7.28 crore for the Integrated Consumer Grievance Redressal System in 2025-26, with actual expenditure of Rs 6.72 crore so far.
To improve consumer awareness, particularly in rural and tribal areas, the ministry said it is continuing its nationwide ‘Jago Grahak Jago’ campaign through television, radio, digital platforms, social media, Panchayati Raj Institutions, public events and multilingual outreach programmes. It added that grants have also been provided to states and Union Territories to conduct local consumer awareness initiatives.
