The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has intensified its crackdown on the sale of products lacking mandatory quality certification through multi-city raids at the warehouses of a leading e-commerce platform.
On Thursday, BIS said its Delhi branch had conducted a search and seizure operation at Amazon Sellers Pvt Ltd’s warehouse on March 19. This operation resulted in the seizure of more than 3,500 products, including geysers, food mixers, and electric appliances worth ₹70 lakh, which did not have the mandatory ISI mark or were marked with fake ISI labels. In another raid conducted at a warehouse in Delhi of Instakart Services Pvt Ltd, a Flipkart subsidiary, 590 pairs of sports footwear worth Rs 6 lakh were seized.
Over the last month, BIS has conducted similar raids in Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Lucknow, and Sriperumbudur. “These raids are part of the BIS’ ongoing efforts to enforce compliance with quality standards for consumer protection,” it said.
Industry sources said some of these items are imported legacy products of sellers. Others pointed out the challenges being faced by international factories in getting BIS certification to meet the norms.
Amazon India spokesperson said: “Amazon operates a marketplace in India. We require sellers who list and sell products on Amazon to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and Amazon policies. Upon being notified of any non-compliance, we take appropriate action. We are engaged closely with various stakeholders.”
“As a marketplace, we work with local Indian sellers to drive awareness and to comply with all applicable laws. The platform has several processes to review the listings sellers make on the marketplace, and also conducts regular audits to ensure compliance,” a spokesperson for Flipkart said.