Items including geysers and food mixers worth around Rs 7 million (approximately $81,500) were confiscated from a warehouse operated by an Amazon subsidiary, BIS said. The products either lacked the mandatory quality certification mark or bore counterfeit labelsread moreIndia’s government has stepped up its scrutiny of Amazon and Flipkart after raiding warehouses operated by the e-commerce giants in Delhi, seizing products that allegedly failed to meet national quality control standards.The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the country’s product certification authority, said the raids are part of a wider campaign to enforce compliance with labelling and safety norms.Items including geysers and food mixers worth around Rs 7 million (approximately $81,500) were confiscated from a warehouse operated by an Amazon subsidiary, the agency said. The products either lacked the mandatory quality certification mark or bore counterfeit labels.AdvertisementIn a separate action, BIS officials seized nearly Rs 600,000 ($7,000) worth of sports shoes from a Flipkart unit in Delhi. The shoes were reportedly packed and ready for dispatch but did not carry the required certification markings.More from India
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UPI system faces temporary outage for about an hour, stabilised by NPCIThe seizures follow similar raids earlier this month at Amazon and Flipkart facilities in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. There too, BIS alleged that the firms were storing and selling goods without adhering to mandatory standards.Amazon India said the firm is “engaged closely with various stakeholders, including regulators.”Both Amazon and Flipkart are dominant players in India’s e-commerce market which, according to estimates by consultancy firm Bain, was worth between $57 billion and $60 billion in 2023, and could top $160 billion in value by 2028.But their rapid growth has also drawn the attention of Indian regulators. In September, the country’s antitrust watchdog found both companies had violated competition laws by favouring select sellers on their platforms– a longstanding concern of small traders and rivals in the retail space.Amazon has faced additional allegations of skirting local laws. A 2021 investigation by Reuters, based on internal Amazon documents, claimed the company had for years given preferential treatment to a small group of sellers and used them to circumvent Indian restrictions.With inputs from agenciesTagsAmazonEnd of Article
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