Consumer protection earns consumer trust, making it one of
cornerstones of a credible e-commerce marketplace in India. As
appreciative as one may be about the efforts to curb fraudulent
business practices, there is a glaring imbalance when protection of
consumer interests are juxtaposed with industry interests and
internationally accepted business practices.
With the advent of new trends in purchase and sales, a balance
in consumer-seller policies and regulations would be achieved if
fair business practices are upheld. To this end, many regulatory
changes applicable to online businesses have been effected, but the
‘balance' quotient remains to be seen. One major change
was the introduction of Consumer Protection
(E-Commerce) Rules[Rules], under the Consumer Protection
Act 2019, that came into force in 2020.
While the other is the Draft Consumer Protection
E-Commerce (Amendment) Rules, 2021 [Draft Rules], which
seeks to amend the existing Rules to include certain
