Helpline number 14444 for digital payments support soon

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After a TV channel and a website to promote digital payments, a nationwide toll-free helpline number '14444' will be launched soon to educate people and provide support related to cashless mode of transactions.

The service is expected to be operational within a week.

"The government had sought Nasscom's help in providing support on a mass scale to people. We had requested for a single nationwide helpline, which is now assigned by the DoT as 14444. We are putting call centre support at the back-end. It is fairly in the advanced stage of operation," IT body Nasscom President R Chandrashekar said.

"The helpline will assist people at the first level to zero in on the option which is most suitable for them, depending on the availability of feature phone, Aadhaar number and bank account of the person," Chandrashekhar added.

To educate people on digital transactions, Ministry of Electronics and IT on Friday launched free-to-air channel DigiShala which will be available on Doordarshan's DTH platform and 'CashlessIndia' website to educate people about digital transactions.

As per IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, digital payments have increased in the range of 400 to 1,000 per cent since November 8 after the scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

When asked about timelines for operationalising Cash Mukt Bharat Abhiyan helpline number, Chandrashekhar said, "We are hoping that before the end of next week, it will be available."

He said that once people will start using a particular methodology then helpline of particular digital payment service provider will also be made available through the helpline.