Indian e‑commerce platforms will soon have to be more transparent about who they are, how they rank sellers and products, and how they handle discounts, dark patterns and consumer complaints, or else face the music.
The Consumer Protection (E‑Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026, notified in the Gazette of India this week, saw the Department of Consumer Affairs amend the existing 2020 e‑commerce rules. The new, more stringent rules are set to take effect from January 1, 2027.
What changed
As per the new rules, e‑commerce entities, including marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart as well as inventory‑based platforms, will now face tighter disclosure and fair‑dealing obligations.
Every platform will have to clearly display its legal name, the geographic address of its headquarters and branches, website details, and contact information for both customer care and a grievance officer.
That grievance officer must acknowledge a consumer complaint within 48 hours, share a copy of the recorded complaint with the consumer, and resolve it within one month.
Gone are also the days of arbitrary sorting. The rules also specifically redefine what “ranking” means. Now it covers any technological means used to organise or present sellers, goods or services.
Now these platforms won’t be able to argue that their algorithmic sorting was not “ranking.”
Platforms should also publish in plain language the main parameters that determine how products or sellers are ranked, listed in descending order of importance.
The Department of Consumer Affairs also introduced a new clause that explicitly blocks platforms from manipulating search results or search indexes in a way that misleads users based on their search query.
Cracking down on dark patterns
Many consumers have often raised the issue of price transparency, especially when platforms announce certain offers. When the new rules come into play in 2027, even that gets clearer, cutting out the common practice of artificially inflating a price just before a “sale” to make the discount look bigger than it is.
As per the new rules, if a platform or seller announces a price cut, it will now have to show the “prior price” alongside the reduced price. The rules define this “prior price” as the lowest price charged for that good or service in the 30 days before the discount was announced.
Platforms will also have to comply with the Centre’s 2023 Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, conduct an annual self‑audit to confirm their platforms are free of such patterns, and prominently display a certificate confirming this compliance.
Sponsored listings should also be disclosed clearly, so consumers can tell paid placements apart from organic rankings.
Even invoices should show the seller’s name in the same font size as the platform’s own name, adding more accountability for sellers as well as the marketplace.
New rules on imports, fees and data use
When e-commerce sites like Amazon list imported goods from 2027, they also need to follow a few new rules. Platforms will have to disclose the name and details of the importer and the full country of origin, and these should be in line with the current Legal Metrology rules for packaged goods.
All e‑commerce entities should also be part of the government’s National Consumer Helpline convergence process, integrating their own grievance system into the national mechanism.
Marketplace platforms will also be barred from using data collected from consumers to sell their own private‑label goods under a brand common with the marketplace itself, or to promote any seller as “associated” with the marketplace, unless they have explicit, affirmative consent from the consumers.
Platforms cannot also charge consumers “bundled fees” for services unrelated to the core e‑commerce platform. However, this does not restrict loyalty or membership programmes and their associated benefits. Sellers on such platforms will also have to adhere to new disclosures, including a government‑issued identification number such as a GST Identification Number or MSME registration number, and existing requirements on returns, refunds, warranties, and delivery costs.
Indian shoppers to have more control
The latest amendment of e-commerce rules prioritises transparency in algorithmic sorting, discounting, and more importantly, a faster grievance redressal system.
It seems like the Centre has taken note of issues that have been repeatedly raised in complaints against major platforms over fake reviews, hidden fees and misleading “deals.”
The compliance deadline is the first day of 2027, and online platforms now have their work cut out for them to audit for dark patterns, and rework how they display prices, seller information and sponsored content. If not, they risk going against the revamped and more powerful Consumer Protection Act, under which all these amendments and rules fall.
