Over 500,000 complaints registered against e-commerce firms in Apr-Nov

A total of 5,12,919 complaints pertaining to e-commerce have been registered in the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) from April 2019 to November 2021, said Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ashwini Kumar Choubey.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Choubey said that Maharashtra reported the highest complaints followed by Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

"Maharashtra reported 64,924 complaints followed by 63,265 complaints in Uttar Pradesh, 50,522 complaints in Delhi, Karnataka reported 38,839 complaints, and 38,582 complaints were registered in West Bengal," he said.

Rule 5(3)(e) of the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 states that every marketplace e-commerce entity is required to provide in a clear and accessible manner, displayed prominently to its users at an appropriate place on its platform, all information provided to it by sellers under sub-rule (5) of rule 6 including name and contact numbers, and designation of the grievance officer for consumer grievance redressal or for reporting any other matter.

In this regard, CCPA has issued an Advisory dated October 1, 2021, to industry associations requesting them to give wide publicity to the provisions of the above-noted rules and impress upon their members to ensure compliance of the rules to ensure that adequate redressal mechanism is accessible to consumers while purchasing goods or services using e-commerce.