Ecommerce Tops Sectors With Highest Consumer Complaints

BIS Panel May Review Making Online Consumer Reviews Guidelines Mandatory After 6 Months

SUMMARY

In all, the government received 1,83,403 complaints against ecommerce companies and startups from January-August 2022

The government has received 5,00,767 complaints so far in 2022, of which 89.31% have been resolved

In 2021, the government resolved 99.96% of the complaints it received. The number stood at 100% from 2017 to 2019, and at 99.99% in 2020

Ecommerce companies accounted for most of the consumer grievance complaints registered with the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) in 2022 so far, according to government data.

According to the complaints dashboard of the Department of Consumer Affairs, 36.6% of all customer complaints received by the National Consumer Helpline were related to ecommerce. In all, the government received 1,83,403 complaints against ecommerce companies and startups during the January-August 2022 period.

General enquiries made up 11.7% of all complaints with the National Consumer Helpline, while nine other segments had more than 10,000 complaints registered in 2022 so far.

In all, the government registered 5,00,767 complaints in 2022 so far. In 2021, it received 7,15,276 complaints. Most of the consumer grievances were related to refunds, followed by service deficiencies. Maximum complaints were registered from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi.

It is prudent to mention here that India has a huge backlog of consumer complaints still languishing in courts across the country.

Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh was cited in a Business Standard report as saying that close to 6 Lakh consumer complaints are pending in the courts.

Out of these, around 4.5 Lakh complaints are pending in district commissions, 1.4 Lakh cases in state commissions and more than 22,000 cases in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

Interestingly, among the pending cases, most are related to the BFSI sector, with a cumulative 2.42 Lakh cases between banking and insurance. According to Singh, the government is also in discussions with the National Legal Services Authority to dispose of the pending consumer cases.

However, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs’ dashboard, the government has already disposed of 89.31% of all the complaints.

In 2021, 99.96% of the complaints were resolved, according to the dashboard. The number stood at 100% from 2017 to 2019, and at 99.99% in 2020.

According to Inc42’s latest report, ‘The State of Indian Ecommerce, Q3 2022’, the ecommerce sector will grow to provide a market opportunity of $400 Bn by 2030, spurred on by the increasing number of online shoppers and innovations driven by ecommerce startups.

Currently, India is home to more than 5,000 ecommerce startups, out of which nearly 700 are funded startups. Ecommerce also has the maximum number of unicorns in India’s startup ecosystem at 23, one more than the fintech sector.