Card chargeback: how to dispute a payment

Written and verified by the Grahak Mitra research team — an independent project documenting digital consumer self-help in India.

Last updated: 3 October 2026

To get a card payment reversed in India, you raise a dispute with the bank that issued your card — not with the merchant. This works for both credit and debit cards. If your bank accepts the dispute, it takes the case to the card network (such as Visa, Mastercard or RuPay); that process is called a chargeback. There is a deadline, set by the card network and your bank rather than by RBI, so raise the dispute as soon as you notice the problem. The outcome is not guaranteed: the bank and the network decide after hearing both sides.

Before you start, work out which of three problems you have, because each follows different rules. A merchant problem (not delivered, defective, not as described) goes through the chargeback process. A charge you never made falls under RBI's liability rules, which have strict reporting deadlines. A payment that failed but still left your account must be reversed automatically under RBI's timelines, with compensation if the bank is late.

Which rules apply to your card problem

Find your situation in the left column. This is a guide to the route, not a ruling on your case.

How to raise a card chargeback, step by step

1. Ask the merchant first. For a merchant problem, write to the seller or platform and ask for the refund. Keep the reply, or the fact that none came. It shows your bank you tried.
2. Raise a dispute with your card-issuing bank, in writing. Use the bank's app, netbanking, card helpline or dispute email, and ask for a complaint reference number. Your bank may send you a dispute form to fill in.
3. Ask for the deadline and give your evidence. Ask how long you have to raise the chargeback on your card. Send the evidence in the checklist below.
4. The bank and the card network investigate. The merchant is usually asked for its side. It is not an instant reversal.
5. You get a decision. If the dispute succeeds, the charge is reversed. If it fails, the charge stays, and you can escalate (see the last section).

Checklist: evidence for a card dispute

• The card statement line showing the charge: date, amount, merchant name
• Your order confirmation and invoice
• Delivery status, or proof it never arrived — a tracking page screenshot
• Photos of a defective or wrong item, next to what the listing promised
• Your messages to the merchant and its replies, with dates
• Any refund promise from the merchant that it didn't keep
• Your bank complaint reference number

A charge you didn't make: RBI's liability rules

If someone else used your card, RBI's rules decide how much of the loss you bear — and speed matters most. Where the breach was a third party's doing (not yours and not the bank's) and you report within 3 working days of receiving the bank's alert, your liability is zero. Report in 4 to 7 working days and your loss is capped at the transaction amount or a fixed limit, whichever is lower. The limit is ₹10,000 for a credit card with a limit up to ₹5 lakh (and for most savings accounts), and ₹25,000 for a credit card with a higher limit. After 7 working days, the bank's own board-approved policy decides.

Once you report, the bank must credit the disputed amount back to you (a "shadow reversal") within 10 working days while it investigates. It must resolve the complaint within 90 days. RBI's card rules also say no charges may be levied on a transaction you have disputed as fraud until the dispute is resolved. If you shared an OTP, PIN or card details, banks often treat the loss as your negligence. Our guide to the zero-liability rules covers that in detail.

These rules change for transactions on or after 1 January 2027. From then, zero liability for a third-party breach requires reporting within 5 calendar days, and the bank must resolve a domestic complaint within 45 calendar days. The rules above apply to transactions before that date.

A payment that failed: worked example

You pay ₹4,000 by debit card on a shopping site on 3 March. The site shows an error and no order is placed, but ₹4,000 leaves your account. Under RBI's failed-transaction rules, the day of the transaction counts as day 0, so the bank has until 8 March (5 days later) to reverse it. If the money comes back on 11 March, the bank was 3 days late and owes you 3 × ₹100 = ₹300 in compensation. RBI says compensation should be credited on its own, without a complaint or claim from you. If it isn't, complain to your bank and quote this rule.

What about the deadline for a chargeback?

No RBI rule sets how long you have to raise a card chargeback. The window comes from the card network's rules, applied through your bank, and it can differ by network and by type of dispute. Don't rely on a figure quoted on a blog: ask your bank what the window is for your card and your case, and raise the dispute as early as you can. The deadlines in the table above for unauthorised and failed transactions are RBI's own and do not depend on the network.

If the bank doesn't resolve it: escalate

Keep every complaint reference number. Then:

• RBI Ombudsman (free). You must have complained to your bank first, in writing or another way you can prove. If the bank doesn't reply within 30 days (or within a longer timeline RBI, NPCI or the card network sets), or its reply doesn't satisfy you, file at cms.rbi.org.in (for help with filing, call the RBI's toll-free 14448). File within 90 days of that waiting period ending or of the bank's last reply, whichever is later.
• The consumer route — for a merchant that won't refund, you can also go after the seller: the platform's grievance officer, then the National Consumer Helpline (1915), then a consumer commission, filed online on e-Jagriti (formerly e-Daakhil). This runs separately from a chargeback and can run alongside it.

These rules apply to commercial banks. Small finance banks, payments banks, regional rural banks and co-operative banks have their own parallel RBI directions; check your own bank's policy. All sources are linked below.