Amid measures taken by the Modi government to crack down on poor-good quality or fake goods sold by way of e-commerce marketplaces in India, the quantity of customer complaints pertaining to the sale of such goods has declined in the present economic year. From 4,610 complaints associated to fake goods registered with the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) through FY2019-20, which had improved by 61 per cent from 2,855 complaints through FY19, the quantity contracted by 31 per cent in FY21 to 3,140 complaints, according to the information from NCH. The e-commerce sector in India, which stood at about $50 billion in size and is most likely to develop to $188 billion by 2025 as per Statista, is dominated by Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal mostly.
“E-commerce companies themselves have been trying to reduce consumer complaints as they have an element of economic loss around it. They have to take the product back, there is a cost of shipping involved, they may or may not be able to recover from the supplier, etc. So, in many ways, the companies have been looking to build stronger quality assurance processes be it around fake goods, poor quality, return management, etc., even as regulatory clause certainly makes a difference,” Ankur Pahwa, E-commerce and Consumer Internet Leader, EY India told TheSpuzz Online.
The information on complaints about fake e-commerce goods received by NCH was shared by MoS Commerce Som Parkash in a written reply to a query in the Rajya Sabha not too long ago. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution had on July 23, 2020, notified the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules to shield prospects from getting cheated on the e-commerce platforms. The government had asked the e-commerce firms to make sure that their grievance officers acknowledge any customer complaint inside 48 hours and redresses it inside one month.
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The Ministry had also mandated marketplaces to make sure sellers show descriptions, photos, and other content pertaining to goods is correct and corresponds straight with the look, nature, good quality, objective and other basic options of the item. Also, particulars about the sellers which includes the name of their business enterprise and address, buyer care quantity, any rating or other aggregated feedback about such seller, and so forth and any other info essential for enabling customers to make informed choices at the prepurchase stage have been mandated.
In January 2021, Snapdeal and 4 Indian buying complexes have been listed in the 2020 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy issued by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR). In the 2019 report, Amazon India had also discovered a mention when in 2020 report, Amazon’s enterprises in the UK, Germany, France, and Italy have been named. Snapdeal was pointed out in the list in 2019 as nicely.
In response to the USTR report, Snapdeal, having said that, had stated that the report reflected a poor understanding of the governing law in different jurisdictions, which includes India. “While Courts in India continue to uphold and assert the distinction between marketplaces and sellers, the USTR report willfully blurs this distinction to further a flawed point of view. In doing so, it ignores clear and well-established regulatory and legal frameworks under which marketplaces operate,” a Snapdeal spokesperson had mentioned. Apart from Snapdeal, markets which includes Heera Panna in Mumbai, Kidderpore in Kolkata and Palika Bazaar and Tank Road in New Delhi have been added in the most up-to-date USTR list.