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E-Commerce complaints hit 7,221 in H1 2025; Total tops 17,500 since 2022: Govt
BL Verma, Minister of State for Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution stated that the problem has intensified in recent months.
The CCPA has also issued guidelines for preventing misleading advertisements and endorsements, applicable to manufacturers, advertisers, and agencies, ensuring that consumer endorsements are genuine, informed, and not misleading.
In response to a sharp rise in consumer complaints against online and e-commerce companies, the Government of India has taken multiple legal, regulatory, and enforcement measures to curb the sale of fake and substandard products on digital platforms. According to data presented in the Lok Sabha on August 6, 2025, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution reported that over 17,500 grievances related to counterfeit and spurious goods sold online were registered with the National Consumer Helpline between 2022 and mid-2025.
BL Verma, Minister of State for Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution stated that the problem has intensified in recent months. From 3,133 complaints in 2022 and 2,211 in 2023, the number surged to 4,997 in 2024. Alarmingly, the first six months of 2025 alone have already seen 7,221 complaints, indicating a steep upward trend. The states with the highest number of complaints include Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Delhi, followed by Rajasthan, Karnataka, and West Bengal.
Alongside the complaint data, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has conducted 22 search and seizure operations since FY 2024–25 at warehouses associated with e-commerce platforms. These operations have taken place across key states, including Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu, with individual cases also reported in Gujarat, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
To address the growing threat of counterfeit goods and ensure consumer safety, the government has put in place several regulatory safeguards under the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020, framed under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. These rules mandate e-commerce platforms to take responsibility for authenticating goods sold through their marketplaces and impose liabilities on both marketplace and inventory-based e-commerce models. Provisions prohibit price manipulation and discriminatory practices among consumers and forbid any form of unfair trade practice.
Furthermore, the government has introduced a “Safety Pledge,” a voluntary public commitment signed by 13 major e-commerce companies including Reliance Retail, Tata Sons, Zomato, Ola, and Swiggy. The pledge aims to enhance product safety and uphold consumer rights in alignment with international best practices.
At the enforcement level, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), constituted under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, has been instrumental in taking class-action steps against errant platforms. The CCPA has ordered companies to refund customers for defective or unsafe products and to withdraw misleading advertisements. For instance, CCPA's interventions led to the removal of over 13,000 listings of car seat belt alarm stopper clips deemed hazardous to consumer safety. Similarly, it has acted against airlines and ticketing platforms for deceptive practices such as basket sneaking and forced consent, which are categorized under "dark patterns" in the e-commerce sector.
To systematically tackle these manipulative design practices, the CCPA issued “Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns” in November 2023, identifying 13 deceptive techniques such as false urgency, bait and switch, drip pricing, and subscription traps. Complementary to this, an advisory on self-auditing for dark patterns was issued to e-commerce platforms in June 2025.
The CCPA has also issued guidelines for preventing misleading advertisements and endorsements, applicable to manufacturers, advertisers, and agencies, ensuring that consumer endorsements are genuine, informed, and not misleading. Additional recent initiatives include the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Greenwashing, effective from October 2024, and the Guidelines for Misleading Advertisements in the Coaching Sector from November 2024.
Efforts have also been made to ensure transparency in user reviews through BIS's voluntary framework on "Online Consumer Reviews," which lays down principles for their collection and publication to prevent manipulation.
For grievance redressal, the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has been expanded and modernized, now operating in 17 languages and accessible via toll-free number 1915, WhatsApp, SMS, email, mobile app, web portal, and the UMANG app. The helpline has witnessed exponential growth in usage, with monthly complaint numbers jumping from 37,062 in 2017 to over 1.1 lakh in 2024. Over 1,100 companies have partnered with NCH under the ‘Convergence’ programme, voluntarily committing to respond to complaints directly.
In Rajasthan specifically, local-level consumer awareness and protection initiatives are being implemented through these central frameworks, supported by state-wise complaint tracking and targeted enforcement actions.
Through a combination of robust regulation, digital grievance redressal, stakeholder engagement, and proactive enforcement, the government is attempting to build a fairer, more transparent, and consumer-centric digital commerce environment in the country.
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