New Delhi: The consumer affairs ministry is working towards building strong grievance redressal mechanisms for consumers, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, minister of state in the Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has said.
Speaking at PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Consumer Confidence Conclave 2021 on Friday, Jyoti said "There must be enough grievance redressal mechanisms available for our consumers; our ministry is working towards it."
The ministry has been tightening the noose around companies to create better redressal mechanisms for shoppers and also ensure a level playing field across platforms. This is especially true for e-commerce retailers.
For instance, in July 2020, the ministry first notified Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules to ensure more accountability from e-commerce and online marketplaces. In June 2021, it released the Proposed Amendments to the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020.
These proposed rules are set to increase compliance burden for retailers.
Nidhi Khare, additional secretary (Consumer Affairs) in the Department of Consumer Affairs, said the government is making efforts to ensure the availability of systemic ways in which consumer rights can be protected and safeguarded.
Khare, however, added there is no need for the e-commerce industry to feel threatened by over-regulation in any way.
“Consumer grievance officers should be readily available at marketplaces. As more and more people are approaching e-commerce sites, the platforms need to strengthen their consumer grievance redressal systems. We want to create shopping in India a nice experience. Buying from e-commerce entities should be safe, secure, and trustworthy. Our e-commerce rules are very simple. They list out the duties and liabilities of e-commerce entities. We don't want the e-commerce industry to feel threatened by overregulation in any way. We want e-commerce entities to be confident in their approach and follow best practices," said Khare.
The government has earlier too maintained that a tighter regulatory framework is largely meant to protect consumer interest.
Meanwhile, industry associations and e-commerce companies have said that new rules would be a major deterrent for the industry and put an additional burden of compliance.
Mark Fellin, head product, trust and regulatory compliance, Amazon, said regulatory compliance and product integrity is a top priority of the company.
“From a safety and compliance perspective, we have a proactive and reactive approach. We have detailed help agents providing information to our seller partners about the safety standards of operating on Amazon. When we find inappropriate listings, we remove such products so that consumers don't have a substandard experience. We have a deep commitment to working with all relevant stakeholders in India to resolve issues and set up systematic practices to ensure growth to a $5 trillion economy," Fellin said.
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