The fate of note ban helpline depends on one call from the government

After the government announced note ban on November 8, Nasscom put together a ‘Cash Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’ helpline number 14444, which was launched on December 15 run by the best in the service business.

It was launched to answer queries on digital payments after demonetisation, and was to remain free till March 31.

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Run by six bulge-bracket BPO companies including TCS, Tech Mahindra, Genpact, Intelenet Global Services, and Aegis, the fate of the helpline number is uncertain since the government has not yet announced whether or not it would be turned into a commercial service.

Therefore, some companies have decided to end the run of this helpline tonight, while some will wait till April 15th to end this.

The helpline made history by being the first case of private IT giants coming together to support the government without being paid.

As per Prasanto Roy, head of Nasscom's Internet Council, the helpline received over 3 million calls, out of which agents answered nearly 300,000 calls.

"We have also submitted a commercial proposal for the helpline, and are awaiting a response from NITI Aayog and the ministry of electronics and IT," he told ET.

"If the government decides to continue the helpline, it would cost less than '40 crore a year," said an official in the know.

Also read: PM Modi reminds Indians to ‘go digital’ in Mann ki Baat

However, the government is sceptical about continuing the helpline since call volumes have dropped drastically after the initial surge.

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“Since the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is handling all the retail payments, it is up to it to decide whether it requires such a helpline. We have written to NPCI and it will take a final call on this,“ said an official at the ministry of electronics and IT.

There is also some confusion pertaining to the end date of the free service. While some operators are planning to down the shutters on the service by March-end, some have put a deadline of April 15.

(Image source: IITK)