Indian Government penalises Amazon

The Indian Government has penalised Amazon for Rs. 75,000 which is a bold step into regulating the giant.

The fine on the giant has been placed due to the secrecy with which the firm is working with. The government had created a regulation to showcase country of origin with their products. However, Amazon did not comply. According to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, it is compulsory for e-commerce companies to display information about the origin of the product.

Last month both Amazon and Flipkart received a notice by the consumer affair ministry asking the firms why they have not worked with the new rules when given a 15 day deadline. Amazon was fined as the demand was not responded with immediately. The firm was fined Rs. 25,000 per director for the first offence, however, as the reminders would increase the fine would move upto Rs. 50,000 per director and also possible imprisonment.

Flipkart has not been fined as they notified the officials of their progress, saying that they are 80% done with the task. The problem however arrives is of the deadline of 15 days. These e-commerce panels have millions and millions of listing, there is no count of the amount of products being sold on the web pages. The time given is not enough to effectively execute the task.

The panels are working on receiving extended deadlines, anyhow, Amazon has already been fined Rs. 75,000 and if the government does not seem to budge then the fine amount would continue to rise.