‘Prasad from Ayodhya Ram Mandir’: Centre’s notice to Amazon over sale of sweets with ‘misleading claims’

“The action has been initiated based on a representation made by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), alleging that Amazon is engaging in deceptive trade practices involving sale of sweets under the guise of ‘Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad’,” the Ministry said in a statement. “The CCPA has sought response from Amazon within seven days from the issuance of notice, failing which necessary action would be initiated against them under provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.”

“Pursuant to the examination of the representation, it has been observed that various sweets or food products are available for sale on Amazon e-commerce platform (www.amazon.in), claiming it to be ‘Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad’,” said the statement, adding, “Enabling sale of food products with false representations online misleads consumers about the genuine characteristics of them. Such practices falsely influence consumers to purchase products they might not otherwise, if accurate attributes were mentioned,” said the Ministry.

“It may be mentioned that under Rule 4(3) of the Consumer Protection (e-commerce) Rules, 2020, no e-commerce entity shall adopt any unfair trade practice, whether in the course of business on its platform or otherwise… ‘Misleading advertisement’ as defined under Section 2(28) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, is one which falsely describes such product or service, or gives a false guarantee to, or is likely to mislead consumers as to the nature, substance, quantity or quality of a product or service,” it said.

Reacting to the incident, Amazon, via a statement, informed: “We have received a communication from the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) regarding misleading product claims by certain seller(s) and investigating them for violations. In the interim, we are taking appropriate action against such listings as per our policies.”