The government has introduced comprehensive new regulations for e-commerce platforms, addressing price transparency, search result manipulation, and consumer protection. According to Business Standard, e-commerce entities must now display both the reduced price and the prior price when announcing discounts, with the prior price defined as the lowest price offered in the 30 days before the discount announcement. The regulations also prohibit platforms from manipulating search results in ways that mislead users or adversely affect result relevance to search queries. Marketplace platforms must provide key information such as best before/use before dates, return and refund terms, warranty, delivery and payment details to help consumers make informed decisions. Additionally, imported goods must disclose details of the importer and country of origin, while marketplace e-commerce entities cannot use consumer information for specified purposes without express and affirmative consent. The new rules will come into force from January 1, 2027, as per the amended Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2026, replacing the 2020 rules.
Industry executives and merchants have expressed concerns that the amended e-commerce rules could impose a disproportionate compliance burden on small sellers and MSMEs who form the bulk of sellers on online marketplaces. According to Business Standard, a senior industry executive warned that requirements around disclosure of ranking parameters, particularly the relative importance of different parameters, could be difficult for small and unorganised sellers to navigate. The executive noted that a more granular disclosure regime could end up favouring larger, better-resourced sellers who are better placed to interpret and respond to it. On pricing provisions, the executive highlighted that the 30-day lowest-price disclosure requirement would mean sellers and merchants, particularly small businesses without dedicated compliance teams, would need to track and maintain accurate price history, adding to their operational load. The executive emphasized that marketplaces are an important channel for bringing small businesses, merchants and MSMEs into India's digital economy, and that regulation should strengthen consumer trust without inadvertently making it harder for these businesses to participate in digital commerce.
The new regulations introduce mandatory self-audits every year for dark pattern compliance and require platforms to prominently display a certificate of compliance with the 2023 guidelines on prevention and regulation of dark patterns. Every e-commerce entity must provide a complainant with a copy of the complaint as recorded by its grievance officer, while every e-commerce entity will have to become a partner in the convergence process of the National Consumer Helpline (NCH). The NCH received 17,71,622 grievances in 2025, with 5,11,196, or about 29 per cent, relating to the e-commerce sector. Bundled fees for services unrelated to the e-commerce platform are prohibited except under specified provisions for loyalty or membership programmes. These measures demonstrate the government's commitment to ensuring that e-commerce platforms operate with complete transparency and consumer-centric practices.
E-commerce platforms have welcomed the new rules to strengthen consumer protection but flagged significant implementation challenges. According to Business Standard, industry executives said consumer trust and greater transparency are important as e-commerce becomes a larger part of retail, and the industry should be accountable for the experience it creates for consumers. However, one industry executive warned that requiring disclosure of the relative weight of ranking parameters could go beyond transparency and get into how a platform operates its commercial algorithms. The 30-day lowest-price requirement needs to recognise that on a marketplace, the price is set by individual sellers and can change frequently, creating technology and data-integrity challenges. Smaller companies may struggle to monitor consumer affairs portals and respond to grievances within the stipulated timelines, while larger platforms can often resolve complaints within 48 hours or less. An annual self-audit was a reasonable way of addressing this, but the certification requirement needed further consideration given the scale and constantly evolving nature of digital platforms.
The new rules draw significance as India's e-commerce market expands, with the market projected to grow from around $140 billion currently to up to $300 billion by 2030, according to a February 2026 Boston Consulting Group report. Flipkart welcomed the government's focus on consumer protection and transparency, with a spokesperson stating that "We welcome the Government's focus on strengthening consumer protection and transparency in e-commerce. As a customer-centric marketplace, we remain focused on building consumer trust while enabling lakhs of sellers, including small businesses, MSMEs & farmers, to participate in India's digital commerce economy. We will study the detailed provisions and continue to engage with the Government to ensure the framework strengthens consumer protection while supporting the growth of digital commerce." However, industry experts caution that "the effectiveness of the rules will ultimately depend on consistent compliance by platforms and strong enforcement against dark patterns," as noted by Mint reporter Dhirendra Kumar. The focus should be on ease of doing business for small sellers and merchants navigating these new requirements while maintaining the broader objective of strengthening consumer protection and transparency.
