Amazon, Flipkart under fire: BIS raids warehouses of e-commerce distributors; seizes fake products worth lakhs

The Delhi branch of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India, issued an official statement Thursday saying it had raided the warehouses of major e-commerce distributors, including Amazon and Flipkart. 

During the raid, the BIS seized thousands of substandard products from the warehouses of the e-commerce platforms.

The operation, which lasted for over 15 hours, was conducted on March 19 at various Amazon and Flipkart warehouses, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a communication.

BIS conducts raids: What products were seized?

More than 3,500 products, both without an ISI mark or marked with fake ISI labels, were seized by the BIS during the raids at the warehouses of Amazon Sellers Pvt Ltd, located in Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area in Delhi in the raids conducted on March 19.

In another raid conducted at Instakart Services Pvt Limited, a Flipkart subsidiary located in Trinagar, Delhi, around 590 pairs of sports footwear packaged for dispatch without the necessary ISI mark and date of manufacture were seized.

Products worth lakhs seized

The total estimated value of the seized products like geysers, food mixers and other electrical appliances is around ₹70 lakh, PIB said in its release.

BIS also seized footwear from the Flipkart warehouse with an estimated value of ₹6 lakh.

Why is BIS raiding Flipkart, Amazon warehouses

In the last one month, the BIS officials have conducted similar operations in different parts of the country and seized various substandard items in Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Lucknow, and Sriperumbudur.

These raids are part of the Bureau of Indian Standards’ ongoing efforts to ensure compliance with quality standards for consumer protection.

As of now, there are 769 products that need mandatory certification from Indian regulators.

What is the punishment for selling fake products?

It is prohibited to manufacture, import, distribute, sell, hire, lease, store, or exhibit (for sale) these products without a valid license or Certificate of Compliance (CoC) from BIS.

Any person who violates the provisions of this order is eligible for punishment under sub-section (3) of section 29 of the BIS Act, 2016, with imprisonment, a fine, or both.