Nearly 81 percent consumers want sale of products and services over digital networks to be governed by a set of new rules, according to a survey by community platform LocalCircles.
Nearly 64 percent of consumers want e-commerce rules for all electronically sold services like app-based food delivery, app taxis, home repair, salon, airline, and railway ticketing, OTT subscription, and payments.
About 59 percent of respondents said the new rules must be implemented for e-commerce marketplaces and e-commerce inventory models and 56 percent said they must be implemented for e-pharmacies and e-groceries as well.
The survey findings received more than 16,000 responses from people in 356 districts of India. About 64 percent of respondents were men while 36 percent were women. A total of 51 percent respondents were from tier 1 cities, 26 percent from tier 2 cities and 23 percent were from tier 3, 4, and rural districts.
Various marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal were also the subject of discussions on how consumers are challenged at times in reaching out to the sellers in regard to counterfeit or fake products. They called for a mechanism where access to such sellers is enabled by marketplaces in a seamless manner.
Also, consumers said sellers who trade in counterfeit and poorly-rated products by consumers should not be able to again list the same products easily as new and sell them again.
Many consumers also raised issues about platforms like Facebook not complying with any legal metrology rules and permitting products and services to be sold over the internet. Issues were also raised by consumers about many FMCG manufacturers platforms not listing MRP and best-before dates.
Issues were raised about certain e-grocery platforms not following basic packaging standards and packing products like insecticides with edible products for human consumption.
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has proposed amendments to Consumers Protection (e-commerce) Rules 2020. It has come up with proposed draft amendments and invited suggestions. The deadline for submission of responses is July 6. (ANI)
