Flipkart, an E-commerce major, has launched instant refund mechanism facility to its customers for hassle-free refund experience. With the current move, Flipkart customers will be able to get refunds within as early as 24 hours of returning back the product.

Earlier refund process used to take three to five business days. Immediate Payments System (IMPS) transfers will be leveraged to make instant refunds. The company also said that the CoD IMPS return facility is active at present for banks with IMPS transaction capability. Moreover, regular notifications would be sent through SMS and emails to entitled customers about the status of their refund.

Flipkart said in a statement that, "Continuing the innovation journey by announcing this newly launched payment mechanism, Flipkart aims to ensure that refunds for Cash on Delivery (Flipkart customers) orders are credited back to customers instantly, as soon as the product reaches the Flipkart hub.”

Punit Soni, Flipkart chief product officer, said, "Our return procedure is already one of the fastest in the country. In the last two months, we have extended this further by piloting the IMPS refunds programme, which has seen positive adoption and traction from our end users.”

Soni added that this is going to be a breakthrough to offer a hassle-free and instant refund experience along with consistent and precise communication to the customer.

Dilip Asbe, COO of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), said, "We strongly feel that enabling our fast-growing product IMPS with Flipkart's quicker refund strategy will create a benchmark experience to customers.”

Different channels like PCs, NUUP, mobile phones, ATM and bank branches facilitate the access and initiation of transactions on IMPS.

-Sumana