In association with the telecom and IT industry, the Government has launched a toll-free helpline – 14444 –in a move to address consumer queries on Digital Payments.
The helpline is intended to address questions pertaining to various platforms, including the newly-launched Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), e-Wallets, Aadhaar-enabled payment system and USSD.
“The helpline ‘14444’ is available in North as well as Eastern part of the country in English and Hindi and will soon be extended pan India, and in other languages,” Telecom Secretary J S Deepak said in a news report posted on NDTV website.
Consumers having queries can call up the helpline. They will be helped out with an interactive voice response system. In case of specific queries, they can also choose to converse with an agent.
The helpline has been launched jointly by Department of Telecom in collaboration with software association NASSCOM, telecom industry as well as the IT industry.
All telecom companies are jointly participating in this initiative and the helpline will be available to subscribers of all operators.
As far as the financial support is concerned, telecom and IT industry is initially bearing the cost of the project. The Government, after a few weeks, is likely to take a decision on financial support for the initiative after taking into account the emerging call traffic patterns.
The bandwidth of the initiative is reportedly being provided by private sector telecom companies and call centre infrastructure is being provided by the IT-BPO industry.
The helpline is aimed at consumers who want to start using USSD, UPI, BHIM, or any digital payment platform and need assistance to do so, or have certain queries.
