How to process and disburse a refund in Inkwelly
This guide is for the school accountant or cashier who has already initiated a refund and now needs to actually pay the parent — through NEFT, UPI, or cheque — and close the refund in Inkwelly. By the end you will have a Completed refund with a transaction reference saved against it for the audit trail.
To process and disburse a refund in Inkwelly: open Student Fee → Refunds, switch to the Pending tab, click the refund you want to close, hit the Process button on the top right, enter the NEFT, UPI or cheque transaction reference along with any remarks, and confirm. Inkwelly flips the refund status from Pending to Completed, stamps the processed date and operator name, and writes the full audit trail against the parent's payment and invoice.
Refunds are the most legally sensitive money movement a school office handles. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and most state fee-regulation acts require schools to disburse refunds within 30 to 60 days of the TC or withdrawal, with a written reference for every paisa returned. The Income Tax Act under Section 35 requires schools to maintain refund records for at least 6 years. Inkwelly stores the transaction reference, processed-by user, processed-at timestamp and remarks on every refund so that when an auditor or parent disputes a refund 2 years later, the office has the proof in one click.
1. Open Student Fee → Refunds
Open Inkwelly → Student Fee from the left sidebar, then click Refunds under the REFUNDS section. The Refunds page lists every refund the school has initiated this session, with KPI tiles at the top showing total refunds, total amount, processing fees and net disbursed. A typical Tier-2 day school sees 8 to 15 refunds across a 1,200-student year — most cluster at TC withdrawals between April and July.
2. Switch to the Pending tab and pick the refund
Click the Pending tab at the top of the refunds list. Inkwelly filters the table to only the refunds awaiting disbursement — these are the ones with money still owed back to a parent. Scan the list by Refund #, student name, class, mode (Bank Transfer, UPI, Cheque, Cash) and net amount. Click the row of the refund you want to close — for example REF/2026-27/0002 for DHAARY VERMA, ₹1,330, Bank Transfer.
3. Open the refund detail and click Process
The refund detail page shows the student card, four KPI tiles (Amount, Net Refunded, Status, Date), the refund breakdown with mode and bank details, and the linked payment and invoice. On the top right of the refund header you will see a green Process button next to a red Cancel button. Click Process. The Process Refund dialog opens with a read-only summary of the refund — refund number, student, gross amount, processing fee, net amount and mode.
4. Enter the transaction reference and remarks
In the Transaction Reference field, paste the actual reference for the disbursement you just performed in the bank. For NEFT or RTGS it is the UTR number from the bank's confirmation SMS — usually 16 to 22 characters. For UPI it is the 12-digit UPI transaction id. For cheque it is the cheque number followed by the issuing bank — for example 438215 SBI Aliganj. Add Remarks if the office needs to note anything special, such as Disbursed in two parts on parent request or Paid against TC withdrawal dated 15 April 2026. Inkwelly stores remarks under the Reason and Remarks card on the refund detail page.
5. Confirm and verify the Completed status
Click the green Process Refund button at the bottom of the dialog. Inkwelly validates the transaction reference, marks the refund as Completed, stamps the processed date and operator name, and refreshes the page. The status pill on the refund header flips from yellow Pending to green Completed, the activity card on the right shows the new Processed timestamp, and the Refund Breakdown now displays the Transaction Ref field. The Process and Cancel buttons disappear because a Completed refund cannot be modified — the only further action available is download or share of the receipt.
Next steps — keep the parent informed. Inkwelly lets you forward the refund receipt directly to the parent over WhatsApp, SMS or email so the family has the same UTR number on their phone for their own records. If a refund must be reversed for any reason — wrong amount, wrong account — open a new refund or use the payment reversal flow described in the sibling guide on how to reverse a fee payment. For schools that issue refunds against TC withdrawals, the sibling guide on refund policy with time-based slabs is the canonical reference for how much money goes back at each stage of the withdrawal.
See Inkwelly Student Fees in action
अक्सर पूछे गए सवाल
6 सवालHow long does Inkwelly take to mark a refund as Completed once I click Process?
Inkwelly processes the refund status change instantly — the moment you click the Process Refund button in the dialog, the refund flips from Pending to Completed and the processed timestamp is saved. The actual money movement happened in your bank earlier (NEFT, UPI or cheque); Inkwelly is recording the disbursement, not executing it. Parents see the refund as closed in their portal within a minute.
Can I edit the transaction reference after a refund is marked Completed?
No, a Completed refund is final and the transaction reference is locked. This is by design so the audit trail cannot be silently tampered with after closure. If the wrong reference was saved, the accepted office practice is to add a note in the student's fee ledger and keep the bank statement as the corrective record. For a genuine error, contact Inkwelly support to perform an audited correction with both timestamps preserved.
What if the parent has not received the money in their bank account even though the refund is Completed?
Completed in Inkwelly means the school office has recorded the disbursement against a transaction reference — the actual settlement in the parent's bank depends on the channel. NEFT typically settles within 2 hours during banking hours, UPI is instant, and a cheque clears in 2 to 4 working days. Share the UTR or cheque number with the parent and ask their bank to trace it; this is the same UTR Inkwelly stored on the refund.
Refund process kaise kare Inkwelly me?
Student Fee menu kholiye, sidebar me Refunds par jaiye, Pending tab select kijiye, jis refund ko process karna hai us row par click kijiye. Detail page khulega — upar right side me green Process button dabaiye. Dialog me NEFT UTR ya UPI transaction id ya cheque number daliye, remarks add kijiye, Process Refund button dabaiye. Status Pending se Completed ho jayega aur processed date save ho jayegi.
Disbursement kab record karna chahiye — bank se paise bhejne se pehle ya baad me?
Hamesha baad me. Pehle bank me NEFT, UPI ya cheque issue kijiye, transaction reference ya UTR number receive kijiye, phir Inkwelly me Process Refund kijiye aur wahi reference paste kijiye. Pehle Inkwelly me Completed mark kar dene se status real money flow se mismatch ho jayega aur audit me dikkat aayegi. School ka SOP yahi hona chahiye — bank pehle, system baad me.
How many days does the school have to disburse a refund under Indian law?
Most Indian state fee-regulation acts and CBSE affiliation bye-laws expect refunds within 30 to 60 days of the TC issue or withdrawal. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 makes any refund delay grounds for parent complaint to the District Education Officer. Inkwelly does not auto-disburse — but it shows pending refunds on the Fee Collection Center dashboard so the accountant has a daily working queue and nothing slips past the deadline.
आपको ये भी पसंद आ सकता है
3 लेखस्रोत व संदर्भ
- Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — Section 13 (No capitation fee, refund obligation) · देखा गया 19 May 2026
The RTE Act prohibits collecting any fee beyond the published structure and obligates schools to refund excess amounts in a timely manner, making proper refund records mandatory.
- CBSE Affiliation Bye-Laws — Chapter VII, Fee Structure and Refunds · देखा गया 19 May 2026
CBSE bye-laws require affiliated schools to publish a refund policy and maintain auditable records of every refund disbursed to a parent on TC, withdrawal or overpayment.
- Income Tax Act, 1961 — Section 35 (Record retention for charitable and educational institutions) · देखा गया 19 May 2026
Schools registered as educational trusts must retain financial records including refund vouchers and transaction references for at least 6 assessment years.
Inkwelly आपके स्कूल पर — खुद देखें
30 मिनट का डेमो। आपके मौजूदा ERP को आपके साथ खोलकर, कॉल पर ही आपका डेटा Inkwelly में लोड करते हैं। कॉल ख़त्म होते-होते एक तय तारीख़ का गो-लाइव प्लान आपके हाथ में।