India’s central grievance portal disposed of more complaints than it received in April 2026, but a new government analysis of over 5 lakh recurring grievances across four years reveals that fast closure does not guarantee citizens receive actual relief. The findings point to persistent breakdowns in PM-KISAN payments, income tax refunds, banking fraud resolution and other high-volume categories.
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) released the 48th monthly report on the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) — the government’s 24×7 online platform that allows citizens to lodge service delivery complaints with public authorities. Central ministries and departments received 1,88,577 public grievance cases during April 2026 and redressed 1,88,969 cases. Pendency stood at 81,847 cases.
The average grievance disposal time for central ministries and departments in 2026 is 13 days, according to the report. Monthly disposal crossed one lakh cases in the Central Secretariat for the 46th consecutive month. CPGRAMS connects citizens to central ministries, departments and states, and allows users to track cases through a unique registration ID. The platform also provides an appeal option if a citizen is not satisfied with the grievance officer’s resolution.
Recurring complaints reveal root causes
The report’s most significant finding is not the monthly count but a new chapter analysing the highest-volume recurring grievance categories between 2022 and 2025. Ten such categories across six central ministries and departments accounted for more than 5.01 lakh grievances over four years. DARPG said the objective is to identify root causes so that recurring complaints can be reduced, not just disposed of.
The largest recurring category was stoppage of PM-KISAN instalments after the issue of a few instalments, with 1,52,102 grievances between 2022 and 2025.
The report links these complaints to incomplete land digitisation, revenue records not being linked to PM-KISAN portals, non-responsive block agriculture offices and lack of a mechanism to track correction status. It notes that repeat filings by the same farmers show that procedural disposal does not reliably restore payments.
Taxpayer complaints formed another large category. Refund matters and wrong demand cases under the Central Board of Direct Taxes accounted for 67,776 grievances during 2022 to 2025. The report points to rectification loops between jurisdictional assessing officers and the Centralised Processing Centre, old outstanding demands, bank validation holds and cases where grievances were marked disposed even when refunds had not reached taxpayers’ accounts.
Banking fraud and UPI complaints
The banking grievance pattern carries direct implications for digital governance. Fraud-related complaints under the Department of Financial Services (Banking Division) accounted for 41,590 grievances during 2022 to 2025.
The report said complaints related to unauthorised UPI and NEFT transactions, OTP and social engineering fraud, investment scams through WhatsApp and Telegram, mis-selling and identity theft for loan creation. Senior citizens, rural account holders and less digitally literate users appear disproportionately affected, according to the analysis.
The report also highlights complaints about bank staff behaviour, harassment and corruption, with 30,690 grievances over four years. These cases included allegations of rude or threatening conduct, coercive loan recovery, delays in KYC updates, refusal of basic banking access and alleged bribery during document processing.
Pendency rises despite disposal gains
In the seven-month series from October 2025 to April 2026, receipts rose from 1,38,575 in October to 1,88,577 in April, while disposals increased from 1,44,503 to 1,88,969. Pendency, however, also rose from 66,279 in October 2025 to 81,847 in April 2026.
The increase suggests that even as processing speeds improve, inflow continues to outpace the system’s capacity to reduce the backlog.
