Consumer Protection Bill, 2018: An Insight

1. Introduction

The advent of globalization coupled with modern business methods has had a significant impact on consumer experience in India. Presently, consumer interest is safeguarded under a three decade old Consumer Protection Act, 1986 ("Act"). The Act, despite being amended thrice in 1991, 1993 and 2002, struggles to effectively protect consumers from business malpractices such as misleading advertisements, is unable to curtail protracted litigations and lacks presence of an effective regulator for addressing issues concerning consumers at large. Nowadays, apart from regular issues concerning faulty products and services, consumer exposure has also extended to unsolicited telemarketing and e-commerce. Tactful marketing by persons tend to mislead consumers and, therefore, there is need for a dedicated regulator to protect consumer interests and educate them on their rights. Enabling suo moto action by a regulator against errant persons would be one