In short
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 decide what an Indian online store must tell buyers and how it must treat them. Sites must show who is selling, the full price, the country of origin, return terms and a grievance officer, and must answer complaints within one month. The 2023 dark pattern guidelines ban 13 manipulative designs, and Legal Metrology rules require label details on product pages. Amendments notified on 9 September 2026 tighten pricing, ranking and audit duties from 1 January 2027.
Who it applies to
- All goods and services sold over digital networks, including digital products, under both marketplace and inventory models.
- Foreign platforms that systematically offer goods or services to consumers in India.
- Sellers on marketplaces, who carry their own duties under Rule 6.
- Advertisers, sellers and platforms for the dark pattern guidelines.
- E-commerce entities selling packaged goods, for the Legal Metrology rules.
The rules do not cover a private individual selling in a purely personal capacity. Companies, and entities owned or controlled from abroad, must also appoint a nodal officer resident in India.
What it means for your website
Business and grievance details
Display your legal name, headquarters and branch addresses, website details and customer care contacts prominently. Name the grievance officer with their designation and contact details. Marketplaces must explain in plain language the main factors that decide how products are ranked.
Product pages
For each product, show:
- the total price in a single figure, with a breakdown of all compulsory and optional charges and taxes;
- country of origin, and for imports the importer’s name and details;
- expiry date where relevant, and from 1 January 2027 best-before or use-before dates;
- return, exchange and refund terms, including who pays for return shipping;
- delivery, payment, warranty and guarantee details;
- on a marketplace, the seller’s business name, address, customer care number and ratings.
For packaged goods, Rule 6(10) of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, in force since 1 January 2018, adds the label declarations. These include the retail sale price, net quantity, product name and the name and address of the manufacturer, packer or importer. Only the month and year of manufacture or packing may be left off the website. From 1 July 2026, imported products must also be listed with a searchable and sortable country-of-origin filter.
Checkout and consent
Consent must come from an explicit, affirmative action, so no pre-ticked boxes. You cannot charge a cancellation fee unless you bear similar charges when you cancel an order yourself. Never add items, donations or fees to the cart without the buyer’s choice.
The 13 specified dark patterns
The Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023 list these practices. Using them may amount to misleading advertising, an unfair trade practice or a breach of consumer rights.
- False urgency: fake countdowns, scarcity or popularity claims.
- Basket sneaking: adding items or payments without consent.
- Confirm shaming: fear, shame, ridicule or guilt to push a purchase or stop a cancellation.
- Forced action: making buyers sign up, buy something else or share data to get what they came for.
- Subscription trap: hard or hidden cancellation, or card details for a free plan.
- Interface interference: highlighting one option and hiding others.
- Bait and switch: promising one outcome and delivering another.
- Drip pricing: revealing charges late or advertising “free” without the conditions.
- Disguised advertisement: ads made to look like reviews, posts or news.
- Nagging: repeated prompts the user did not ask for.
- Trick question: confusing wording or double negatives.
- SaaS billing: silently turning free trials into paid plans or collecting recurring payments covertly.
- Rogue malware: scareware that claims a device is infected and sells a fake fix.
From 1 January 2027
The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026 add these display duties:
- Label sponsored listings clearly and do not manipulate search results.
- Show the prior price beside any reduced price. The prior price is the lowest price in the 30 days before the reduction was announced.
- Print the seller’s name on invoices in the same font size as the platform’s name.
- Run a yearly dark pattern self-audit and display a certificate that the platform is free of dark patterns.
- Marketplaces: show the seller’s website and email where available, and the seller’s GSTIN or MSME number.
What it means for your software
Seller and product master data
Most display duties fail at the data level. The product master needs fields for country of origin, importer details, expiry and best-before dates, Legal Metrology declarations, return terms and warranty. On a marketplace, sellers must supply this data, and the platform must show it. Validate required fields before a listing goes live, and keep a history of changes.
Prices and price history
Store every price change with a timestamp. From 1 January 2027 the system must calculate the lowest price in the previous 30 days to show as the prior price. Checkout must show the same total that the product page showed, with each charge itemised.
Grievance handling
Every complaint needs a ticket number the customer can track. The system should log receipt, send an acknowledgement within 48 hours and flag cases nearing one month. From 1 January 2027 it must also send the complainant a copy of the complaint as recorded, and platforms must join the National Consumer Helpline convergence process.
Returns and refunds
Neither a seller nor an inventory entity may refuse a return or refund for goods that are defective, deficient, spurious, not as described, or delivered late. Late delivery caused by force majeure is the exception. Accepted refunds must be paid within a reasonable time under RBI and other applicable rules. Build return reasons, approval steps and refund status into the order system. See RBI payment rules.
Consent and personal data
Log each consent action: who, when and which box they ticked. From 1 January 2027, marketplaces may not use consumer data to sell goods of related sellers, or promote a seller as linked to the platform, without express consent. See the DPDP Act.
Reviews
Sellers and inventory entities may not post reviews posing as consumers. The BIS standard IS 19000:2022 on online consumer reviews is voluntary. It recommends verifying reviewers, labelling incentivised reviews and keeping them out of the overall rating, and moderating without regard to whether a review is positive or negative.
Marketplace and inventory models
- Marketplace (Rule 5): displays seller details and seller-supplied product information, explains ranking, and from 2027 may not charge bundled fees for services unrelated to the platform, other than loyalty or membership programmes.
- Sellers on a marketplace (Rule 6): need a written contract with the platform, their own grievance officer and accurate product data, including GSTIN and PAN where applicable.
- Inventory entity (Rule 7): displays all product, price and return information itself, and is liable if it vouches for a product’s authenticity.
Checklist
- Publish your legal name, addresses, customer care details and grievance officer on every page footer.
- Audit product data for total price, country of origin, expiry date, return terms and Legal Metrology declarations.
- Add a searchable and sortable country-of-origin filter for imported products.
- Remove pre-ticked boxes and any items or fees added to the cart without consent.
- Review checkout, sign-up and cancellation flows against the 13 dark patterns.
- Set up complaint tickets with 48-hour and one-month alerts.
- Start keeping a 30-day price history for every product.
- Label sponsored listings and document your ranking factors.
- Plan the yearly dark pattern self-audit and certificate due from 2027.
- Write a review policy: no paid or staff reviews, and label incentivised ones.
How Kreon helps
We build e-commerce sites and marketplaces in which seller, price, origin and return data are required fields, so the product page cannot go live incomplete. We can add grievance ticketing, price history for prior-price display, consent logs and checkout flows designed without dark patterns. For an existing store, we can review it against the rules that apply from 1 January 2027.