CCPA fines Flipkart, Meta ₹10 lakh each for allowing sale of unlicensed walkie-talkies

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed penalties of ₹10 lakh each on Flipkart and Meta Platforms for permitting the sale of walkie-talkies on their platforms without mandatory disclosures on licensing and regulatory compliance.

In two separate but related orders issued in January 2026, the CCPA held that both companies allowed listings of regulated telecom equipment without informing consumers about essential legal requirements. These include the operating frequency range, the need for a wireless operating licence, and mandatory Equipment Type Approval (ETA) certification.

The Authority ruled that the absence of such disclosures misled buyers into assuming that the devices were legal for unrestricted use.

Walkie-talkies are regulated under the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and related rules administered by the Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing (WPC) under the Ministry of Communications. Under existing exemption rules, only Personal Mobile Radios operating strictly within the 446.0 to 446.2 MHz frequency band can be used without a licence. Devices operating outside this band require prior approvals and certifications.

According to the CCPA, neither Flipkart nor Facebook Marketplace clearly informed users about these distinctions. As a result, consumers were deprived of their statutory right to be informed about the legality and safety of the products being sold.

In Flipkart’s case, the CCPA took suo motu cognisance of listings on the platform and issued a notice in May 2025. Company submissions revealed that 8,708 sellers were offering walkie-talkies and that 1,08,206 units had been sold since January 2023, without any verification of frequency compliance or ETA certification. The Authority described this as a systemic failure to exercise due diligence under the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020.

Flipkart argued that it merely acted as an intermediary and that compliance obligations lay with third-party sellers. The CCPA rejected this defence, stating that marketplace entities have an independent responsibility to ensure that regulated products are not sold without legally mandated disclosures.

A similar view was taken in the case against Meta Platforms. The Authority found that Facebook Marketplace had allowed the listing of walkie-talkies without required regulatory information. Although Meta removed certain listings after receiving a show-cause notice and pointed to internal monitoring tools, the CCPA termed these actions reactive and inadequate.

The Authority further rejected Meta’s claim that Facebook Marketplace was not an e-commerce marketplace entity. It ruled that since the platform facilitates product discovery and buyer-seller interaction, it falls squarely within the scope of the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020.

Concluding that both companies had engaged in misleading practices in violation of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the CCPA imposed monetary penalties and directed the platforms to strengthen compliance mechanisms. The orders require them to ensure that listings of regulated products carry clear, legally compliant disclosures in the future.