How to File a Consumer Complaint Online in India: The e-Daakhil Walkthrough

Short answer: you file a consumer complaint online in India at edaakhil.nic.in, the official e-filing portal of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. Register with an email and mobile number, verify both, then file a fresh case against the seller or service provider. If your claim is up to ₹50 lakh it goes to the District Commission; filing fee is nil for claims up to ₹5 lakh; and you do not need a lawyer. Most people can complete the filing in about forty minutes once the documents are ready.

General consumer information, not legal advice. Portal wording and screens change; the sequence below is the stable part.

What e-Daakhil actually is

e-Daakhil is the government’s electronic filing system for consumer cases. Before it existed you had to physically carry a paper complaint, an affidavit and a demand draft to the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission that had jurisdiction over you, during working hours, in person. e-Daakhil replaced that with a login. You file, pay and track from home, and the papers land in the same commission’s registry.

Two things it is not. It is not a complaint helpline — that is the National Consumer Helpline on 1915, which mediates informally and has no power to order anything. And it is not a police portal — if money left your account through fraud, the first call is 1930 and the first filing is at cybercrime.gov.in. e-Daakhil is for a civil consumer dispute: a defective product, a deficient service, an unfair trade practice, an overcharge.

Before you start: do you have a consumer complaint?

Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 you are a “consumer” if you bought goods or hired services for consideration, for your own use rather than for resale or a commercial purpose. The Act expressly covers online and teleshopping transactions, so a purchase from an e-commerce marketplace, an app subscription or a service booked through a platform all qualify.

You can complain about any of these:

• A defect in goods — the product is faulty, not what was described, or fails within a reasonable period.
• A deficiency in service — the service was not delivered, was delivered badly, or the provider simply stopped responding. Non-delivery of a paid order is the most common case on the portal.
• An unfair trade practice — misleading claims, false discounts, a “free” offer with hidden cost, refusal to honour a published warranty.
• An unfair contract — a term so one-sided it causes significant change in the consumer’s rights, such as an unreasonable penalty for a small breach.
• Overcharging — being charged above the displayed or legally fixed price.
• Goods or services that are hazardous to life and safety when sold in contravention of the law.

Documents to gather first

Half the failed filings on this portal fail because the paperwork was assembled midway. Collect all of it before you open the site. Everything is uploaded as PDF.

Scan cleanly, keep each file reasonably small, and name the files for what they are. A registry that can read your bundle at a glance processes it faster.

The filing sequence, step by step

1. Register. Go to edaakhil.nic.in and create a consumer account with your name, email and mobile number. You will receive an activation link by email and an OTP on the phone. Both must be completed before you can log in.
2. Log in and accept the disclaimer. The portal opens with a short undertaking about the accuracy of what you file. Read it; you are going to swear to it in the affidavit anyway.
3. Choose “File a New Case” and then Consumer Complaint. Other options on that menu — caveat, written version, appeal — are for later stages or for the opposite party.
4. Enter the claim amount. This single number decides which commission hears you and what you pay. Enter the total value of the goods or services paid plus the compensation you are claiming. The portal uses it to route the case.
5. Select the commission. The portal shows the State and District. Pick the district where you live or work if that is convenient — since 2019 the law lets you file where the complainant resides, not only where the company sits. That change is the single biggest practical improvement for online shoppers.
6. Fill in the parties. Your details, then each opposite party. Use the company’s registered office address from the MCA master data, not the address on the courier label; notices sent to a warehouse come back undelivered and delay the case by weeks. Add the marketplace and the seller as separate parties when both are involved.
7. Write the complaint summary in the on-screen field, then upload the full documents in the order of your index.
8. Pay the fee through the integrated payment gateway. For most consumer claims this is nil or a few hundred rupees — see the table below.
9. Submit, and save the case number. You get an acknowledgement with a case number and a filing date. Screenshot it. Every later query, hearing notice and status check runs off that number.

What it costs

Consumer commission fees are deliberately small, because the forum exists to be reachable. These are the standard slabs:

The overwhelming majority of online-shopping disputes fall in the first row and cost nothing to file. If a website or an intermediary asks you for thousands of rupees to “register your consumer case”, you are talking to a service, not to the commission.

How to write the complaint itself

There is no prescribed literary form, and plain language is an advantage. A complaint that reads well has five parts:

• The parties. Who you are, who they are, in one line each.
• The facts, in date order. “On 14 May 2026 I ordered X for ₹7,400, order number ABC123. On 22 May a different item arrived. On 23 May I raised ticket 55219.” Dates and reference numbers, no adjectives.
• The deficiency. One paragraph saying exactly what was wrong, in the Act’s own vocabulary — defect, deficiency in service, unfair trade practice.
• The efforts you made. Tickets raised, emails sent, the grievance officer contacted, the legal notice if any. This is what turns a complaint into a case that could not be resolved otherwise.
• The relief claimed. Be specific and numerical: refund of ₹7,400, compensation of ₹X for the harassment and time lost, ₹Y towards costs of the proceedings. A vague prayer invites a vague order.

Attach a paginated index and refer to your evidence by page number in the body. It costs you ten minutes and it makes the file readable.

After you file

The registry scrutinises the filing and either admits it or raises defects for you to cure. Once admitted, notice goes to the opposite party, who has a fixed period to file a written version. Hearings are listed on the portal and increasingly happen by video conference. In practice the great majority of consumer cases against large companies settle before final orders, because the cost of contesting a ₹7,000 refund exceeds the refund. That is exactly why filing works.

A first-hearing date within a few weeks is normal; a contested case running into a second year is also normal. If you want speed rather than a formal order, the mediation route offered under the Act is worth taking — the commission can refer a case to mediation with the parties’ consent, and a settlement there is recorded and enforceable.

The mistakes that cost people their case

• Filing against the wrong entity. The trading brand is often not the registered company. Look up the legal name and registered office before you name anyone.
• Leaving out the marketplace. If you bought through a platform, name the platform as well as the seller; the platform has its own obligations under the e-commerce rules.
• No proof of payment. A screenshot of a cart is not a purchase. The bank or UPI statement line is.
• Missing the two-year limit and not filing an application to condone the delay along with the complaint.
• Claiming a wild figure. Inflating the claim can push you into a higher commission, a higher fee and a longer wait, and it damages your credibility for no gain.
• Going silent. Cases get dismissed for non-prosecution when the complainant stops attending. Diarise the dates.

Frequently asked questions

How do I file a consumer complaint online in India?

Register at edaakhil.nic.in with your email and mobile, verify both, log in, choose “File a New Case” then “Consumer Complaint”, enter the claim value, select the commission, add the parties, upload your index, complaint, affidavit, memo of parties and evidence as PDFs, pay the fee if any, and submit. Save the case number from the acknowledgement.

Do I need a lawyer to file a consumer complaint in India?

No. The Consumer Protection Act was designed so a consumer can appear in person, and consumer commissions routinely hear parties without counsel. A lawyer helps if the amount is large, the facts are contested or the opposite party is represented, but nothing in the process requires one.

What is the fee to file a consumer complaint?

Nil for claims up to ₹5 lakh. Above that it rises in slabs — ₹200 up to ₹10 lakh, ₹400 up to ₹20 lakh, ₹1,000 up to ₹50 lakh at the District Commission, and ₹2,000 to ₹5,000 at the State and National Commissions. Most online-shopping disputes cost nothing to file.

Can I file a consumer case in my own city if the company is elsewhere?

Yes. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 allows a complaint to be filed where the complainant resides or personally works for gain, in addition to where the opposite party is located or where the cause of action arose. You do not have to travel to the company’s home state.

How long does a consumer case take in India?

The Act sets targets — broadly three months where no expert analysis of goods is needed, five where it is — but real timelines depend on the commission’s docket. Expect a first hearing within weeks and a contested matter to run considerably longer. A large share of cases settle once notice is served, which is often the practical outcome.

What is the difference between the National Consumer Helpline and e-Daakhil?

The National Consumer Helpline (1915) is a mediation and advisory service: it takes up your grievance with the company and often gets results quickly, but it cannot order anyone to pay you. e-Daakhil is formal adjudication before a consumer commission, which can order a refund, compensation and costs, and whose order is enforceable. Many people use the helpline first and e-Daakhil if that fails.