Parliament Question: Complaints against Online/e-Commerce Companies

ORIGINAL IN HINDI Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2819 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.08.2025 COMPLAINTS AGAINST ONLINE/E-COMMERCE COMPANIES 2819. SHRI MURARI LAL MEENA: (OIH) Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has received complaints against various online and e-commerce companies for selling fake or substandard goods to their customers, if so, the number of complaints received across the country along with their categories during the last three years (2022-2025); (b) the name of the States or cities which had the highest seizure of fake goods during the last three years; (c) the details of legal and policy measures taken by the Government to address this problem, so far; (d) whether the Government has issued any strict guidelines for e-commerce platforms making them responsible for the authenticity of the goods being sold by sellers on their platforms and if so, the details thereof; (e) whether any steps like monitoring mechanisms, consumer helplines or awareness campaigns at local level have been implemented in Rajasthan to protect consumers from fake products; and (f) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI B.L.VERMA) (a) : The data of grievances related to sale of spurious/ fake/ duplicate and counterfeit products in e- commerce sector registered on the National Consumer Helpline is given at Annexure. (b) : Since FY 2024-25, BIS has carried out a total of 22 search and seizure operations at warehouses associated with e-commerce platforms. These include three search and seizure operations each in the states of Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, and Maharashtra; two search and seizure operations each in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu; and one search and seizure operation each in Gujarat, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand. (c) to (f) : To safeguard the interests of consumers from unfair trade practices in e-commerce, the Department of Consumer Affairs has notified the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. These rules, inter-alia, outline the responsibilities of e-commerce entities and specify the liabilities of marketplace and inventory e- commerce entities, including provisions for consumer grievance redressal.In terms of the provisions of these rules, no e-commerce entity shall ; (i) Manipulate the price of the goods or services offered on its platform in such a manner as to gain unreasonable profit by imposing on consumers any unjustified price having regard to the prevailing market conditions, the essential nature of the good or service, any extraordinary circumstances under which the good or service is offered, and any other relevant consideration in determining whether the price charged is justified. (ii) Discriminate between the consumers of the same class or make any arbitrary classification of consumers affecting their rights under the Act. These rules also provide that no e-commerce entity shall adopt any unfair trade practice, whether in the course of business on its platform or otherwise. Further, a “Safety Pledge” has been finalized, in consultation with all the stakeholders, which is a voluntary public commitment of e-Commerce platforms to ensure the safety of goods sold online and respect the consumer rights. Aligned with global best practices, this initiative strengthens consumer protection in the e-commerce. On the National Consumer Day 2024, 13 major e-Commerce companies including Reliance Retail group, Tata sons group, Zomato, Ola, Swiggy etc. signed the Safety Pledge for ensuring consumer safety. Under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), an executive agency, came into existence on 24.07.2020. It is designed to intervene, to prevent consumer detriment arising from unfair trade practices and to initiate class action(s), including the enforcement of recalls, refunds and return of products. Its core mandate is to prevent and regulate false or misleading advertisements which are prejudicial to the public interest. The CCPA, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 18 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, has issued “Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023” on 30th November, 2023 for prevention and regulation of dark patterns listing 13 specified dark patterns identified in e-Commerce sector. These dark patterns include False Urgency, Basket Sneaking, Confirm shaming, forced action, Subscription trap, Interface Interference, Bait and Switch, Drip Pricing, Disguised Advertisements, Nagging, Trick Wording, SaaS Billing and Rogue Malwares. Further, an “Advisory in terms of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 on Self-Audit by E-Commerce Platforms for detecting the Dark Patterns on their platforms to create a fair, ethical and consumer centric digital ecosystem” was issued by the CCPA on 5th June, 2025. The CCPA has also notified the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022 on 9th June, 2022. These guidelines inter-alia provide for; (i) conditions for an advertisement to be non-misleading and valid; (ii) certain stipulations in respect of bait advertisements and free claim advertisements; and, (iii) duties of manufacturer, service provider, advertiser and advertising agency. These guidelines states that due diligence is required for endorsement of advertisements such that any endorsement in an advertisement must reflect the genuine, reasonably current opinion of the individual, group or organisation making such representation and must be based on adequate information about or experience with, the identified goods, product or service and must not otherwise be deceptive.Action is taken by the CCPA against various entities including e-commerce platforms for affecting consumers, as a class, for violation of consumer rights, false and misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices as defined under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Action is also taken against the sale of domestic pressure cookers that do not meet compulsory BIS standards on e- commerce platforms. Additionally, as per CCPA's directions, travel companies have refunded Rs. 1,454 Crores to consumers for cancelled flights due to the Covid-19 lockdown. CCPA also mandated that these companies update their websites with clear instructions and status updates on refund claims related to cancelled tickets. Further, 13,118 listings of car seat belt alarm stopper clips have been delisted from major e-commerce platforms based on the orders passed by CCPA to delist all such products which violate consumer rights and are unfair trade practices under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 as the sale or marketing of said product compromises with the life and safety of consumer by stopping alarm beep when not wearing seat belts. Also, subsequent to CCPA’s intervention, an e- commerce platform discontinued the practice of automatically adding Rs. 1 per ticket towards charity contribution in the ticket (a form of Basket Sneaking dark pattern), in the form of pre-tick format (a form of forced consent dark pattern). Also, an airline modified the manner in which it used to offer insurance at the time of purchase of tickets (a form of confirm shaming dark pattern). Further to strengthen consumer protection, the CCPA enacted the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Greenwashing and Misleading Environmental Claims, 2024 (effective 15th October 2024), mandating transparency in environmental claims and the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements in the Coaching Sector, 2024 (effective 13th November 2024), addressing false claims, exaggerated success rates and unfair practices in coaching institutes. Also, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has notified framework on ‘Online Consumer Reviews — Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation and Publication’ on 23.11.2022 for safeguarding and protecting consumer interest from fake and deceptive reviews in e-commerce. The standards are voluntary and are applicable to every online platform which publishes consumer reviews. The guiding principles of the standard are integrity, accuracy, privacy, security, transparency, accessibility and responsiveness. Further, Consumers can register their grievances from all over the country in 17 languages including Hindi, English, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Nepali, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Maithili, Santhali, Bengali, Odia, Assamese and Manipuri through a toll-free number 1915 on a dedicated National Helpline run under the aegis of Department of Consumer Affairs. These grievances can be registered on Integrated Grievance Redressal Mechanism (INGRAM), an omni- channel IT enabled central portal, through various channels- WhatsApp (8800001915), SMS (8800001915), email (nch-ca@gov.in), the NCH app, the web portal (consumerhelpline.gov.in) and the Umang app, as per their convenience. 1,110 companies, who have voluntarily partnered with NCH, as part of the ‘Convergence’ programme directly respond to these grievances according to their redressal process and revert by providing a feedback to the complainant on the portal. Complaints against those companies, who have not partnered with National Consumer Helpline, are forwarded to the company for redressal. The technological transformation of the NCH has significantly boosted its call-handling capacity. The number of calls received by NCH has grown more than tenfold, from 12,553 in December 2015 to 1,55,138 in December 2024. This exponential growth reflects the rising confidence of consumers in the helpline. Similarly, the average number of complaints registered per month has surged from 37,062 in 2017 to 1,11,951 in 2024. The National Consumer Helpline (NCH) administered by the Department of Consumer Affairs has emerged as a single point of access to consumers across the country for their grievance redressal at a pre-litigation stage. *****ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2819 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 06/08/2025 REGARDING COMPLAINTS AGAINST ONLINE/E-COMMERCE COMPANIES. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grievances related to sale of spurious/ fake/ duplicate and counterfeit products in e-commerce sector registered on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) Year-wise: S. No. Year Count 1 2022 3133 2 2023 2211 3 2024 4997 4 2025 (Jan.'25 ~ June.'25) 7221 Grand Total 17562 State-wise: 2025 S. No. State/UT 2022 2023 2024 Grand Total (Jan.'25 ~ June.'25) 1 Uttar Pradesh 406 272 618 1039 2335 2 Maharashtra 401 228 566 637 1832 3 Delhi 285 207 447 512 1451 4 Rajasthan 233 152 351 531 1267 5 Karnataka 178 153 342 519 1192 6 West Bengal 212 143 354 443 1152 7 Gujarat 218 128 298 454 1098 8 Bihar 173 120 272 460 1025 9 Madhya Pradesh 124 86 200 421 831 10 Haryana 157 108 218 343 826 11 Tamil Nadu 88 99 199 430 816 12 Telangana 119 83 215 247 664 13 Kerala 77 95 219 240 631 14 Andhra Pradesh 113 64 138 161 476 15 Punjab 80 57 110 136 383 16 Odisha 51 57 98 139 345 17 Jharkhand 49 37 81 115 282 18 Chhattisgarh 31 18 60 80 189 19 Uttrakhand 34 20 49 78 181 20 Assam 29 23 41 63 156 21 Jammu & Kashmir 20 18 33 56 127 22 Himachal Pradesh 21 20 26 39 106 23 Goa 8 12 16 11 47 24 Chandigarh 12 4 15 14 45 25 Tripura 5 2 11 7 25 26 Puducherry 0 0 4 17 21 27 Manipur 3 1 4 8 16 28 Arunachal Pradesh 0 1 6 4 1129 Meghalaya 3 2 1 2 8 30 Nagaland 0 0 0 7 7 31 Sikkim 2 0 1 2 5 32 Daman & Diu 1 0 1 1 3 Dadra & Nagar 33 0 0 3 0 3 Haveli 34 Andaman Nicobar 0 0 0 3 3 35 Mizoram 0 1 0 1 2 36 Ladakh 0 0 0 1 1 Grand Total 3133 2211 4997 7221 17562 *****