CCPA Fines Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho For Illegal Walkie-Talkies Sales

Consumer watchdog Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has slapped fines on ecommerce platforms like Amazon, Meesho, Meta (Facebook Marketplace), among others, for illegal sale of walkie-talkies, saying thousands of listings broke telecom and consumer laws.

The CCPA said it found more than 16,900 non-compliant listings of walkie-talkies across ecommerce platforms like Flipkart, Meesho, JioMart, and Facebook Marketplace, along with several smaller sellers and websites. 

The watchdog fined Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho and Meta INR 10 Lakh each. Smaller penalties of INR 1 Lakh were imposed on JioMart, Talk Pro, Chimiya and MaskMan Toys. 

According to the CCPA, many walkie-talkies were sold without telling buyers basic details such as the radio frequency used, whether a government licence was needed, or whether the device had official approval from the Department of Telecommunications.

Several products, according to the CCPA, were wrongly advertised as “licence-free” or “100% legal”.

The Authority found that many devices operated on ultra-high frequency (UHF) bands, which are regulated and used by police, emergency services and disaster response agencies. In some cases, walkie-talkies were sold as toys despite having long communication ranges of up to 30 km, raising safety concerns.

Under Indian laws, only walkie-talkies operating strictly between 446.0 and 446.2 MHz are exempt from licensing, and even these require prior technical approval before sale. 

Selling devices outside these rules counts as misleading advertising and unfair trade practice, the CCPA said.

According to the CCPA, some of the companies have already paid the fines, while payments from others are pending. Investigations against platforms such as IndiaMART and TradeIndia are still ongoing.

The watchdog also rejected claims by the platforms that they are only intermediaries and not responsible for third-party sellers. It said platforms that allow sales and promotion of regulated products must carry out proper checks.

Further, it also warned that unauthorised radio devices can interfere with critical communication systems and pose risks to public safety and national security. It directed these platforms to stop listing such products without approvals, run regular audits, and ensure clear disclosures for consumers.

The fines follow a series of actions taken by the CCPA over the past year. In May 2025, the Authority issued 13 notices to ecommerce marketplaces including Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, OLX, TradeIndia, Facebook and IndiaMART for listing walkie-talkies without proper disclosures around frequency usage, licensing requirements and regulatory approvals.

A preliminary analysis at the time revealed hundreds of unauthorised listings: 467 on Amazon, 314 on Flipkart, 489 on Meesho and 423 on TradeIndia. The CCPA sought detailed information from platforms on seller credentials, product specifications and frequency bands.

Union consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi had then warned that the sale of non-compliant wireless devices could pose “significant risks to national security operations”.

The CCPA also pointed out that such omissions violated the Consumer Protection (Ecommerce) Rules, 2020, which require platforms to provide clear, pre-purchase information to help consumers make informed decisions.