The Legal Protection for Consumers in Conducting E-Commerce Activities in India

It has only been a few years since e-commerce has started gaining popularity in India. With technological advancement, the entire country started getting advanced gradually. E-commerce is one of such advancements where technology joins hands with commerce and develops concomitantly. E-commerce involves business transactions through electronic mediums. It is like the conventional way of buying and selling process but through smartphones and computers. It is way easier than the actual way of shopping that is to say, physically going to the market and buying goods. Moreover, online shopping is less time-consuming. Therefore, it has got all the popularity lately across the globe. It is no less like magic that one can get what they like just with some clicks. But amidst all the advantages it is not free from pitfalls. During online commercial transactions, consumers are more likely to fall prey to unfair trade practices and get deceived horrendously. That is why, to protect the consumers from such blows from the dark,a legal shield is very much required. The Consumer Protection Act,2019 which has been recently enacted replacing the Act of 1986, has provided many provisions especially dealing with e-commerce. Which were absent in the previous Act because at the time when it was enacted e-commerce was not in practice in India. Although there is no Act enacted wholly dedicated to this subject but as of now, the provisions of the Act of 2019 seem to suffice to deal with the issues relating to e-commerce. Petty issues are mostly solved by the respective e-commerce company’s customer care service. For more serious problems, complaints can be filed on social media platforms too. However major grievances relating to e-commerce activities are still dealt with by the consumer forums established by the Government of India to provide redressal to the aggrieved parties. But it is also true, that to stay away from online frauds during online commercial transactions consumers themselves should also be very careful. E-commerce is a gateway for development so it must be regulated properly to not get exploited in the hands of fraudsters and imposters. The Government has to take care of it as it opens up the door for many international dealings too and which will ultimately bring prosperity to the country’s economy.