*New Consumer Protection Amendment 2025: A Guide for E-Commerce Firms in India*
In 2025, the Indian government brought new amendments under the umbrella of the Evolution of Consumer Protection Amendment in India. The Evolution of Consumer Protection Law in India was introduced by the Prime Minister. This represents a fairly dramatic change for e-commerce companies with operations in India. The changes are intended to offer greater protection to consumers, increase transparency and create additional responsibility for online sellers and platforms.
This blog is focused on the new consumer protection amendment 2025, and the legal help present for consumers in India.
Why the Amendment Was Needed
India has seen tremendous growth in online shopping and digital commerce over the last 10 years. From a niche activity, it is now mainstream in cities and towns, smaller towns, as well as rural India. In this extension, some structural issues could be observed:
There was no transparency for the consumer as to where their products were coming from or how they were getting priced, who was selling them, and what would really happen if they wanted a refund. Frequently, valuable information had remained buried or difficult to extract.
Unfair or deceptive practices would become ubiquitous: false advertising, phoney reviews, hidden fees or manipulative user interface designs (the scandalous “dark patterns”) that confuse users into unwanted purchases or subscriptions.
It was not easy to accept and mediate grievances, let alone disputes, in cross-state or cross-platform transactions. The available framework under the old law could not always keep up with the speed and complexity of digital commerce.
With these issues in mind, the Consumer Protection Amendment 2025 seeks to keep regulation current, rewriting the e-commerce rulebook and setting the bar for what’s fair, transparent, and responsible and what consumers can expect.
What is the Consumer Protection Amendment 2025 all about?
The amendment includes several changes, but the following provisions are most impactful to e-commerce companies.
Transparency & Disclosure Requirements
Like previous updates, the amendment is big on clear disclosure. E-commerce platforms must ensure that:
For product listing, the mall will list all the material details, which include the price of the good and all other information related to the good, such as net quantity, MRP, name of manufacturer/importer/packer (if it is manufactured) –for imported products country of origin should be mentioned, etc.
It’s clear and easy to find out what the return and refund policies are, who the seller is, as well as contact or grievance officer details.
These disclosures are, in theory, designed to give consumers the information they need to make informed choices, something that is particularly necessary when consumers can’t get a hands-on sense of the products offered for sale, as they often cannot in online shopping.
Prohibition of Unfair Trade Practices, Misleading Advertisements and Deceptive UI (“Dark Patterns”)
The amendment strengthens prohibitions against unfair trade practices and applies them specifically to operations in e-commerce or digital commerce. This includes:
Misleading or false advertisement, fake/biased reviews, incorrect product description or discrepancy.
Hidden fees or deceptive price changes (bait-and-switch, “drip pricing”).
Fraudulent user interface design to trick customers, for example, they use fake scarcity or difficult-to-cancel bundled items, or withhold critical details well into the checkout flow.
To counter such “dark patterns”, the CCPA in mid-2025 released a circular directing all e-commerce platforms to conduct a self-audit and declare that they do not employ any manipulative methods.
Data privacy and forward-looking supervision in the digital marketplace
Crossing other regulations on data and online business, which are coming into effect, the 2025 amendment would cover more companies in terms of being responsible for consumers’ data use, digital consent and transparency of information.
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