E-commerce firms again top list of sectors with maximum consumer grievance

Centre plans Lok Adalats to dispose of pending cases in consumer commissions

With a share of nearly 48 per cent, e-commerce companies have once again topped the list of sectors that have received complaints through the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) between January and August this year.

Data shared by the government showed that the second highest number of calls (14 per cent) received on the helpline were general enquiries. In e-commerce, most consumer grievances concerned money paid by users not being refunded by companies, followed by deficiency in services. State-wise, the maximum complaints were made from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Maharashtra and Delhi.

In a related development, the Centre on Wednesday said it will hold Lok Adalats in the next few months to dispose of almost six lakhs consumer cases that were pending in courts.

About 4.5 lakh of the cases are pending in district commissions, 1.4 lakh cases in state commissions, and over 22,000 cases in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said.

Singh said the consumer affairs ministry has divided the cases sector-wise — 1.7 lakh cases related to insurance, 72,000 to banking and over 60,000 cases to housing. The ministry is also in discussion with the National Legal Services Authority for the disposal of pending consumer cases, he said.