The growing market for e-commerce companies in India has led to a manifold growth in the number of complaints received against such companies in the last three years. According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, there has been an almost 80% growth in the number of complaints filed with the National Consumer helpline. From over 13,500 complaints against e-commerce companies in 2014-15, the number of complaints has reached to over 50,500 complaints during 2017. Complaints against e-commerce companies regarding late delivery or non-delivery of ordered products were the highest in 2016. Complaints regarding delivery of defective products or wrong products comprised almost 26% of the total complaints received.
Complaints regarding selling of duplicate products were also one of the major concerns received with the consumer helpline number last year, and accounted for nearly 10% of the total complaints. Legal experts and consumer rights protection groups have raised concerns over the lack of a regulatory body for the e-commerce websites, leading to the rising number of complaints against these websites and companies in India.
Nirmal Chaudhury, national vice-president of Consumer Rights Organisation, told The Sunday Guardian, “Most of the complaints are about fake or wrong product delivery and sometimes about non-refund or late refund for returned products. The problem is increasing because when people purchase online from e-commerce companies, they only have a customer care number or email ID to complain, unlike a physical retail store where you can hold a person accountable. So here the consumer directly complains to the consumer helpline. Moreover, people are still unaware of the consumer protection laws in India and consumer courts are not that active and fast here, thus leading to the rising number of cases.” Some also believe that the rising number of complaints is due to the increasing number of e-commerce companies in India. Rohan Mahajan, advocate and founder of Lawrato, a law firm, said, “Online shoppers do not know where exactly to go to for redress of their complaints. In practice, most of e-commerce giants try to solve the problem at their level once the complaint is received. The lesser known companies are the ones that default most of the time.” However, C.R. Chaudhury, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, has told Parliament that the government is working towards bringing some regulation to regulate the e-commerce companies in India.