Warehouses of Amazon and Flipkart were Raided, Inferior Products were Confiscated

Thousands of inferior products were seized during a series of raids on Amazon and Flipkart warehouses on 27 March by the Bureau of Indian Standards' (BIS) Delhi division. The operation, which lasted more than 15 hours, was conducted at a Flipkart subsidiary warehouse in Trinagar and Amazon's warehouse in Delhi's Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) said that more than 3,500 products, including geysers, food mixers, and other electrical appliances, were seized during the operation at Amazon's warehouse. Many of these products, officials discovered, either carried fake ISI labels or lacked the required ISI certification. It is anticipated that the seized commodities are worth around INR 70 lakh in total.

Raid at Instakart

BIS officers conducted a separate raid on Instakart Services Pvt Ltd, a Flipkart subsidiary located in Trinagar, Delhi. The crew discovered a cache of athletic shoes that lacked accurate production date information and did not adhere to ISI standards. About 590 pairs of athletic shoes valued at INR 6 lakh were seized by the authorities. These raids are a component of BIS's broader national effort to enforce quality standards. Similar operations have been carried out in other places over the past month, including Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Lucknow, and Sriperumbudur, and several uncertified products have been seized as a result.

According to notifications from numerous regulatory bodies and various ministries of the government, the Bureau of Indian Standards requires compulsory certification for 769 products. Without a current licence or Certificate of Compliance (CoC) from BIS, it is completely forbidden to manufacture, import, distribute, sell, hire, lease, store, or exhibit for sale of these products.

Raids in Other Parts of the Country

Large amounts of goods being sold without the required certification were seized by the BIS during a search on the warehouses of e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart in the Tiruvallur district last week. 3,376 products, including insulated flasks, food containers, metallic potable water bottles, ceiling fans, and toys without BIS standard markings, were seized by authorities at Amazon's Puduvoyal warehouse. The items that were confiscated are worth INR 36 lakh. In a separate investigation, BIS officers searched Flipkart's Koduvalli warehouse and found 36 casserole boxes, 26 stainless steel water bottles, 10 insulated steel bottles that were not BIS certified, and 286 packs of baby nappies.

The BIS searched an Amazon warehouse in Hyderabad on March 25 and found 2,783 "uncertified" consumer goods valued at over INR 50 lakh. Products like smartwatches, electric water heaters, CCTV cameras, electric food mixers for the home, and both electric and non-electric toys were discovered to be lacking the required BIS certification, according to a report by a news agency. Additionally, Meesho, Myntra, and BigBasket received notifications from the bureau instructing them to sell only BIS-certified goods. Companies are subject to a fine of at least INR 2 lakh under Section 17 of the BIS Act, 2016. Up to ten times the value of the products sold or offered for sale may be included in this.

Offenders may also be imprisoned for up to two years, depending on the seriousness of the infraction. Pralhad Joshi, the minister of consumer affairs, stated in December of last year that winning over customers' trust and confidence is essential for India's e-commerce industry. He pointed out that in order to preserve product quality, online platforms must declare the nation of origin, guarantee transparent pricing, offer correct product specifications, and have clear return and refund procedures in place.