A Brief Analysis on the Indian Consumer Protection Act, 2020 vs. E-Commerce

Abstract

From the year of its arrival in 1986, the Consumer Protection Act in India has played a vital role in safeguarding the interests of the consumers. The primary function of the act has been to provide a very quick redressal and simple solution to all consumer grievances and also to prevent all sorts of unfair practices in trade by businesses and manufacturers. The amended Consumer Protection Act of 2019 was proposed in the LokSabha in July and passed in RajyaSabha in the same month. The new act which came into effect from July 24, 2020, focused on improving the transparency between the consumers and businesses to another level giving the customer more power. This paper focuses on the new points introduced in the bill for E-commerce and how it has been received by the public and e-commerce businesses alike. Excluding the basic necessities such as clothing, shelter, food etc. there are many other commodities like phones, perfumes, cosmetics and many other consumables which have become an indomitable requirement in life. While buying items from the market there can be instances where as a consumer we can be cheated. In this paper we discuss the basic necessities of the consumers and how the Consumer Protection Act plays an important role in it. We also discuss how the Consumer Protection (E-commerce Rules, 2020) under the new Act has placed a huge pressure on the E-commerce business to increase the transparency of the system and how it is being received by the public. This is achieved by interviewing a number of consumers to receive their opinion about the present act. By the end of the paper, we generate a deeper idea about the Consumer rights and how much it should protect to benefit not only the consumers but also allow the businesses to run smoothly.