New Delhi, Dec 18 (IANS): The Centre on Friday told the Rajya Sabha that over 5 lakh complaints were registered against e-commerce companies from April 2019 to November 2021.

"A total of 5,12,919 complaints pertaining to e-commerce companies were registered with the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) during the period between April 2019 and November 2021," Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

According to the data furnished by the Minister, Maharashtra reported the highest number of complaints at 64,924, followed by Uttar Pradesh (63,265) and Delhi (50,522).

Choubey said that according to Consumer Protection (e-commerce) Rules, 2020, every marketplace e-commerce entity is required to provide in a clear and accessible manner, at an appropriate place on its platform, all information provided to it by the sellers, including name and contact numbers, and designation of the grievance officer for consumer grievance redressal or for reporting any other matter.

In this regard, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued an advisory dated October 1, 2021 to industry associations requesting them to give wide publicity to the provisions of the above noted rules and impress upon their members to ensure compliance of the rules to ensure that adequate redressal mechanism is accessible to the consumers while purchasing goods or services using e-commerce platforms.