For decades, India’s bureaucracy was synonymous with red tape and inefficiency. Consumers often associate government offices with long lines, piles of paperwork, and slow-moving approvals. Once restricted by paperwork and rigid processes, India’s public services have undergone a profound shift defined by digital transformation. The Digital India Initiative, launched in 2015, was a turning point.
In an innovative move towards enhancing the consumer grievance redressal mechanism, many government departments have introduced a technology-driven strategy aimed at improving the speed and efficiency of resolving consumer issues. Digital-enabled Public Grievance has become part of the Government’s efforts to leverage technology for good governance.
Launched in 2007, the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) has gone through ten transformative reforms, revolutionising grievance management. From 2022 to 2025, CPGRAMS resolved over 80 lakh grievances, reduced the grievance redressal timelines from 28 days in 2019 to 16 days in 2025, and brought down the pending cases to 62,620 for Central Ministries as of June 30, 2025.
To address the specific needs of senior citizens, the government has also created the Centralised Pension Grievances Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS). From January 01 to July 15, 2025, a total of 63,310 grievances were received, of which 55,554 (87.74%) were resolved. The average resolution time has improved significantly—from 35 days in January to 20 days in July 2025—demonstrating more timely and effective grievance redressal. CPENGRAMS has also achieved a record efficiency, resolving over one lakh pension grievances, with a special focus on Defence pensioners. Recognised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in April 2024 as a best practice, CPGRAMS has become the world’s largest citizen-government grievance platform.
To counter the new challenges of cybercrime, the India Government launched the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) in 2019, which is dedicated to receiving cybercrime complaints related to online fraud, financial scams, cyberstalking, and crimes against women and children. The NCRP is integrated with law enforcement across all states and union territories, enabling faster investigations and support for victims. It also provides a 24/7 toll-free Helpline (1930) to report and block fraudulent transactions instantly. Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS), launched in 2021 by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), enables the immediate reporting of financial fraud and helps prevent fraudsters from siphoning off funds. CFCFRMS has saved more than Rs. 5,489 crore in over 17.82 lakh complaints so far, highlighting the role of CFCRMS in safeguarding our money from cybercriminals.
National Consumer Helpline (NCH), launched in March 2005, introduced an AI-enabled mechanism in 2025 to enhance the speed and efficiency of resolving consumer issues. Since its implementation, the number of calls received by NCH has increased more than tenfold. The number of calls received by NCH has surged from just 12,553 in December 2015 to over 1.55 lakh in December 2024. On the other side, the average grievance resolution time has decreased from over 66 days in 2023 to just 48 days in 2024, highlighting how AI is helping reduce service times.
In 2024, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) introduced the FCI Grievance Redressal System (FCI GRS), which is a step towards greater transparency, accountability, and fairness in food procurement. The Grievance Redressal System, protecting the interests of rice millers and streamlining grain distribution, is a clear indication of the government’s commitment to ensuring food security by adopting technology on a large scale.
What makes these platforms unique is their reliance on artificial intelligence and data analytics. For instance, CPGRAMS and the National Consumer Helpline utilise AI-based text analytics to categorise complaints into different themes, such as service delays, payment failures, or fraud. The use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques helps identify urgent cases, such as those involving fraud or medical emergencies and flag them for priority handling. The National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) utilises analytics to identify fraud patterns across states and connect them to a larger network of financial crimes. The AI-powered dashboards, providing regulators and ministries with comprehensive heat maps of grievance trends, ensure they are well-informed and in control of the situation, helping them identify areas for improvement.
Looking ahead, Agentic AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) could redefine the entire process of grievance redressal altogether. AI agents could autonomously interact across different systems to fetch documents, validate information, and even draft initial responses. For example, a CPGRAMs complaint about a delayed LPG subsidy could be verified by an AI agent that queries Aadhaar and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) logs before forwarding it to the concerned officer. At the citizen-facing end, AI-powered chatbots and AI agents trained in Indian Languages can help people file complaints more easily, especially cybercrime complaints, as pensioners and rural citizens may struggle with digital literacy.
Consumer courts, currently grappling with significant backlogs, could benefit from LLMs that draft case summaries, identify relevant precedents, and even suggest compensation ranges. Agentic AI could compare similar cases across the country, ensuring consistency and uniformity. The real-time analysis of millions of complaints, a powerful tool, could provide governments with early-warning systems about systemic failures, instilling confidence in the effectiveness of the proposed system and allowing for timely intervention.
Grievance redressal in India has undergone a significant transformation, shifting from manual queues to a digital dashboard and ultimately to AI-powered ecosystems. It is now moving towards agentic governance, where artificial intelligence not only supports officials but also actively helps resolve issues with minimal human intervention, ensuring responsible grievance redressal. With these innovations, India can set a global benchmark in how government can bridge the trust gap, making bureaucracy not a barrier but a platform for breakthroughs.
Dr. Sshruti Mantri, Senior Associate Director, ISB Institute of Data ScienceMr. Ramesh Kotnana, Senior Manager, ISB Centre for Business Innovation
First Published: Sep 18, 2025, 11:42
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