Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday launched several initiatives to strengthen consumer protection, including an artificial intelligence-enabled helpline and tools to detect deceptive marketing practices, while major ecommerce players pledged to increase online shopping security.
Major platforms including Reliance Retail, Tata Sons and Zomato adopted the security pledge as the government introduced new consumer protection measures such as AI-enabled National Consumer Helpline, e-Map Portal and Jago Customer Jago Mobile App.
At the National Consumer Day programme, Joshi said, ‘There has been considerable progress in the speedy resolution of consumer disputes.
The minister participating in the online program said that out of the 3,628 cases submitted to the National Commission from January to November this year, 6,587 cases have been resolved through the three-level consumer court system at the district, state and national levels.
The government’s e-Dakhil portal, launched in 2020 and expanded nationwide in June 2023, has achieved 100% adoption for online complaint filing in states like Karnataka, Punjab and Rajasthan as well as many districts.
Addressing the growing ecommerce concerns, Joshi said: “This digital revolution offers incredible opportunities, but the Government of India believes it is equally important for our consumers to feel confident and make informed choices.”
The Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is drafting new guidelines to regulate surrogate advertising and has issued notices to 13 companies for non-compliance with existing rules, he added.
Minister of State for Consumer Affairs BL Verma, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti, All India Technical Education Council TG Seetharam and Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare were present at the event.