Geysers, Footwear Among Products Seized From Amazon & Flipkart Warehouses

There seems to be no end to the troubles of Amazon and Flipkart. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which has intensified its crackdown on the ecommerce majors for violation of quality control orders, said geysers and sports footwear were among the items seized from the warehouses of the two companies following raids.

In a statement today, the agency said that its Delhi branch’s search and seizure operation at the warehouses of Amazon Sellers Pvt Ltd in Delhi on March 19 lasted over 15 hours. 

The BIS said it seized over 3,500 products, including geysers, food mixers and other electronic products without legitimate ISI markings and with fake ISI labels. The seized products were worth INR 70 Lakh. 

In the case of Flipkart, the BIS raided its subsidiary Instakart Services Pvt Ltd’s warehouse in Delhi’s Trinagar. The operation led the body to discover about 590 sports footwear packed without ISI marks and date of manufacturing. The value of the said shoes was around INR 6 Lakh. 

“These raids are part of the BIS’ ongoing efforts to enforce compliance with quality standards for consumer protection. Currently, there are 769 products notified for compulsory certification by various regulators, and line ministries of the Govt of India,” the statement added. 

The BIS’ action against the ecommerce giants has gained steam in March as the aforementioned raids were the third instance of it conducting such an operation over the past few weeks. 

After conducting similar operations in their warehouses located in Lucknow, Gurugram and Delhi on March 7, the body raided Amazon and Flipkart’s warehouses in Tamil Nadu last week. 

While the companies are seeing intense action from the BIS, they are also under the lens of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The competition watchdog has found the duo guilty of abusing their dominant position in the ecommerce market by giving preference to certain sellers on their platforms. 

Earlier, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) alleged that the ecommerce majors were bypassing regulations by using proxy sellers to dominate listings and manipulate prices.

While India’s ecommerce market has grown to a size of $60 Bn, with 270 Mn Indians shopping online in 2024, the market’s growth rate is seeing a slump of sorts.

As per a report by Bain & Company, the ecommerce market growth slowed down to 10-12% in 2024 as against over 20% year-on-year growth seen over the previous few years. 

Within the ecommerce sector, quick commerce is gaining rapid traction. The report said that more than 66% of online grocery orders and one-tenth of ecommerce spending in 2024 took place on quick commerce platforms like Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart.