Protection of Consumer Rights in E-Commerce in India

Richa Gupta ()
Additional contact information
Richa Gupta: Atal Bihari Vajpayee Vishwavidyalaya (ABVV)

Chapter Chapter 9 in The Digitalization Conundrum in India, 2020, pp 155-178 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The e-commerce and consumer Internet industries in India registered phenomenal growth rates with their shares in retail, grocery delivery and food technology palpable enough even in tier II and III cities. However, the space ceded from traditional businesses to online commerce has policy implications for consumer trust and confidence—one of the foundations in a market economy. A legal solution to this problem is found in the concept and device of consumer rights so that factors such as information asymmetry, collusion between manufacturers and retailers, fraud, cheating and unfair trade practices do not disadvantage consumers vis-à-vis sellers or become a hindrance in the expansion of businesses. First, a brief overview of the architecture for the protection of consumer rights in e-commerce in India is provided. This includes the Consumer Protection Act 1986 and 2019. The second part of the article looks thoroughly at various consumer cases filed in the e-commerce category at district, state and national consumer forums in India to answer certain pertinent questions in this field which may benefit much from the attention of policymakers and researchers alike. This includes, first, what are some of the biggest consumer issues of concern and frequency in e-commerce in India? Second is the current three-tier framework of consumer courts, at the national, state and district levels, sufficient to address the growing volume of consumer complaints in this area? Third, do consumer courts have adequate capacity to deal with questions involving consumer interests in a field that requires technological knowledge apart from legal know-how? Last, alternatives and policy suggestions are given to strengthen consumer protection to ensure twin goals of swiftness and fairness of decisions on consumer complaints and cases in e-commerce in the country.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:isbchp:978-981-15-6907-4_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9789811569074

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-6907-4_9

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in India Studies in Business and Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().