In line with best practices in developed countries, Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has launched a scheme on National Consumer Helpline and subsequently the State Consumer Helplines (SCH) .Thirty States have so far availed the funds from Consumer Welfare Fund to establish Helplines according to the scheme.
A National Resource Centre Knowledge Resource Management Portal for State Helplines under the Centre for Consumer Studies is functioning at the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) to act as a nodal agency to integrate State Helplines, coordinate its activities, conduct training for their counselors and to host a central IT system providing a common knowledge base with frequently occurring problems and solutions. The Centralised Application software hosted at IIPA Servers is has a high speed dedicated internet connection.
The National Consumer Helpline also functions from IIPA under the Center of Consumer Studies. Efforts are on to bring Consumer grievance and helpline mechanism under one common IT platform with a single toll free number across the country.
