In a major crackdown on several e-commerce and quick-commerce players, the Consumer Protection Watchdog, CCPA, has sent notices to companies such as Zepto, Blinkit, and nine others. Sources indicate that these notices were issued following complaints about alleged violations of the Mandatory Declaration Rules under the Legal Metrology Act.

“We have sent notices to 11 companies in this space for these violations. Some sellers have placed products for human consumption where either the manufacturing date was missing, or the best before or expiry date was not mentioned. There were instances where products were sold without adhering to packaging or labelling norms. These are serious violations. We have asked these companies to respond to the notices,” said a senior source familiar with the matter.

Other companies receiving these notices include Swiggy Instamart, Meesho, MyGlamm, and Snapdeal, sources added. The CCPA (Central Consumer Protection Authority) operates under the aegis of the Consumer Affairs Ministry.

Blinkit and Snapdeal declined to respond to CNBC-TV18’s queries, while comments from the other companies are awaited. The article will be updated once comments from other players mentioned above are received.
These notices followed complaints from consumers and consumer forums, one of which is LocalCircles.

“Hundreds of consumers over the last 12 months have reported on LocalCircles about receiving products close to their best before or expiry date via quick commerce and some e-commerce platforms,” said Sachin Taparia, Founder of LocalCircles.

“After necessary due diligence and validation, we found that many online platforms are violating the Legal Metrology Packaged Commodity Rules Amendment, 2017, which requires online platforms to disclose the best before date of packaged products,” Taparia added.

“We had escalated the same on October 8 to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs for the Legal Metrology Department to examine these complaints and drive necessary corrective actions, which they confirmed have been initiated”, he continued.

LocalCircles also conducted a national survey among consumers who make online purchases about whether they were able to find best-before dates displayed for products meant for human consumption. The survey found that 57% of such consumers could not find this information, an increase from 2023 when 50% reported the same issue.