What is UPI-Help Launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)?

In context to RBI’s vision of having a customer friendly and transparent dispute redressal mechanism (ODR) which further provides strength to the pillars of digitalization of India, the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has introduced UPI-Help on the BHIM UPI Appin a press conference on March 15,2021. Launched by NPCI, the UPI-Help ensures and enables superior and hassle free experience on issue resolution for BHIM UPI App users and thus is a vital part of Digi-Help stack by NPCI.

Key highlights of the blog are :-

• What is UPI-Help by NPCI ?
• Why was it necessary ?
• How does NPCI UPI Help acts as a boon for the commoners ?
• The Bottom Line

What Is UPI-Help by NPCI ?

• In a bid to strengthen the pillars of digitalization and gain the confidence of public,  the non-profit umbrella organization, NPCI has launched a customer friendly and transparent dispute redressal system on the indigenously developed Indian mobile payment app, BHIM.
• With a view to empower the customers and help them confidently adapt to digital payment and thereby go cashless, the NPCI has taken this initiative and have launched the UPI-Help for the BHIM UPI App users in a press conference on March 15,2021.
• However, instead of going at one go, the NPCI have taken up this mammoth task in different stages and to start with, the customers of State Bank Of India (SBI), AXIS Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank will be able to access this feature.
• In the meantime, NPCI has also assured that the customers of Paytm Payments Bank, TJSB Sahakari Bank and users of other banks participating in UPI will be able to enjoy the best of NPCI UPI-Help in the upcoming months.

Why Was It Necessary ?

Listed below, are the following major reasons which highlighted the need of such an initiative, owing to which, the NPCI came up with UPI-Help for BHIM UPI App users :-

Lack of confidence of people on cashless transactions

• Despite PM’s constant address to the nation post demonetization where he laid stress on digitalization and requested people to carry on transactions digitally, the people of India still lacked faith and confidence in the online system of payment and money transfer which this move looks to resolve.
• The NPCI-UPI Help will empower the people and will help them carry on digitalized payments, thereby enabling them to gain faith on cashless transactions.

Lack of means to check the status of pending transactions

• Prior to this, the people did not have any means to check the status of their pending transactions i.e. at what point is the digitalized money stuck when it has been deducted from their account but has not yet reached the beneficiary account.
• This was a significant query to which people usually had no answers to and the move by NPCI takes into account and even enables the users to check the status of their pending transactions, thereby providing them the means which they lacked before.

Lack of means to file complaints

• Prior to this, the people lacked means to raise their voices and file complaints in case they have been let down. They only had the option to talk to the customer support team of the payments app which also used to raise their hands in complex and technical issues. This not only instilled a feeling of being cheated but also used to lower their morale.
• However, the NPCI has taken care of this issue as well and has enabled users to file online complaints as well against merchant and unprocessed transactions, thereby motivating people to file online complaints in case they have been let down.

Lack of transparent dispute redressal mechanism

• Prior to this, there did not exist any transparent dispute redressal mechanism in the country which further affected the morale of the people. This has been noticed by the RBI itself and in continuation and connection to RBI’s vision, the NPCI UPI-Help provides a customer friendly and transparent redressal mechanism to the users, thereby boosting their morale.
• It was a result of all these shortcomings, that NPCI had to come up with something and it did not disappoint anyone. Driven by all these reasons, the NPCI came up with UPI-Help, a simple yet sensible initiative to address the prevailing issues that troubled the people of India.
• Particularly, the NPCI laid stress and focused on creating a safe and stable digital payment ecosystem on the indigenously developed payments app, i.e. the BHIM App for the BHIM UPI App users and while doing so it not only provided strength to the pillars of cashless economy but also encouraged and empowered people and helped them to shift from cash transactions to cashless transactions.

How Does NPCI-UPI Help acts as a boon for the commoners ?

The NPCI-UPI Help acts as a boon for the commoners and benefits them in several ways. This move by NPCI does not only address the prevailing issues, but also helps in boosting the morale of the people and thus we can all expect the progress to be by leaps and bounds by this initiative of NPCI.

The NPCI-UPI Help benefits the BHIM UPI App users in the following ways :-

Enables users to check status of pending transactions

The move by NPCI now enables the BHIM UPI App users to check the status of their pending transactions i.e. those transactions where money has been deducted from their account but has not reached the beneficiary account. Also, in cases where the user does not take any action against pending transactions the NPCI UPI-Help also aims to proactively attempt to auto update the final status of the transactions on the app.

Enables users to file online complaints

The NPCI-UPI Help enables the BHIM UPI App users to raise their be voices and file complaints in case of merchant and pending transactions. In case of dissatisfaction, the users can easily file complaints online on the app itself.

Helps in resolving Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions

In addition to the above mentioned advantages, the NPCI-UPI Help also aims to provide assistance and help in resolving one-to-one or Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions.

Strengthens the pillars of digitalization

The NPCI-UPI Help has come at the right time and addresses the issues which are creating hindrance in the path of digitalization of India. The move by NPCI, empowers the people and encourages them to go cashless thereby providing the much needed push for a digitalized economy.

Boosts morale and confidence of the people

Along with all these benefits, the NPCI-UPI Help also plays a crucial role in lifting the morale and confidence of the people thereby providing them the much needed psychological advantage. The move, not only strengthens the pillars of digitalization but also helps the users to shift and adapt to the digital payments ecosystem by providing them the much needed confidence.

Owing to the above mentioned benefits that NPCI-UPI Help has in store for BHIM UPI App users, the move and initiative by NPCI is highly appreciated. By doing so, the non profit umbrella organization does not only aims to provide strength to PM’s vision of a digitalized economy, but also at the same time strives to create a safe and stable digital payment ecosystem which will empower more people, boost their morale, gain their confidence and thereby help them get on board.

The Bottom Line

Wrapping it up, all we would say is the initiative by NPCI has come at the right time and will play a crucial role in the development of India as a digitalized economy. The NPCI-UPI Help is an excellent mix of technology and innovation and will pave the way for the customer grievance redressal mechanism systems that will be developed in the future for addressing the grievance of the people.