Protect Consumer Rights in India | BRAC Fight for Fair Trade and Justice

1. Introduction: The Urgency of Protecting Consumer Rights
In markets, online stores, and service centers across India, millions of people face unfair treatment every day. Consumer rights problems—ranging from defective products to false promises to complete fraud—continue to harm countless families despite laws meant to protect buyers. According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, approximately 4.6 lakh complaints were registered against e-commerce companies alone during 2023-24, marking an 11% increase from the previous year. Over the past four years, complaints in the e-commerce sector have surged by 117%, reaching nearly 13 lakh total complaints.

Each number represents a person who trusted a seller, paid their hard-earned money, and received something completely different from what was promised. A family buys cooking oil that turns out to be mixed with cheaper substances. A person orders a phone online but receives a brick or broken device. A patient gets wrong medicine that makes their condition worse. A customer pays for a service but never receives it. These problems cause financial loss, health risks, wasted time, and crushing frustration that affect families physically, economically, and emotionally.

The scale of the problem is massive. The National Consumer Helpline saw complaint volumes increase more than tenfold, from 12,553 in December 2015 to 1,55,138 in December 2024. Monthly average complaints nearly tripled from 37,062 in 2017 to 1,12,468 in 2024. As of 2025, 78,031 new cases have been filed in consumer courts, with 65,537 complaints resolved so far. These official numbers likely represent only a portion of actual problems, as many people never complain because they lack knowledge of their rights, think the process is too difficult, or believe nothing will change.

The types of problems are diverse and growing. Most complaints registered with the National Consumer Helpline in recent months were about poor service, followed by complaints about receiving wrong products, defective or damaged items, refunds not given, products not delivered, delivery delays, and replacement or refund refused despite policy promises. In the banking sector, complaints include amounts taken from accounts but not credited to the right person, accounts blocked or services stopped, and missing product parts. Food and beverage complaints doubled in 2024, reaching 53,228 cases.

The problems hit hardest those who can least afford losses. When poor families spend money on fake or defective products, they cannot simply buy replacements. When workers lose money to scams, they face debt and hunger. When elderly people are cheated by service providers, they have no other options. The impact extends beyond financial loss to include health problems from unsafe or fake products, mental stress and depression from being cheated, family fights over wasted money, and loss of trust in the market system.

Despite the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 providing strong rights and creating new institutions like the Central Consumer Protection Authority, the gap between law and reality remains wide. Cases move slowly through consumer courts, with only 64,297 cases decided compared to 76,318 filed by July 2025, showing disposal rates have fallen below filing rates. Vacancies in consumer courts have increased, with 18 out of 36 State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions lacking presidents and 218 out of 685 District Commissions without sitting presidents. Sellers continue unfair practices because enforcement is weak. Consumers struggle to get refunds or replacement even when the law is on their side.

2. Understanding the Issue: The Scope and Impact of Consumer Rights Violations
Consumer rights violations in India represent a widespread problem affecting millions of people across all sectors of the economy. Understanding the full scope requires examining current numbers, types of violations, who is most affected, where problems occur most, and the deep impact on individuals, families, and society.

The Scale of the Crisis: Current Statistics and Trends
The data on consumer complaints reveals troubling patterns showing both the massive scale of problems and growing awareness among consumers about their rights.

• Overall Complaint Volumes: The National Consumer Helpline received 1,55,138 complaints in December 2024 alone, compared to just 12,553 in December 2015, showing more than tenfold growth. Monthly average complaints increased from 37,062 in 2017 to 1,12,468 in 2024, nearly tripling in seven years. As of 2025, consumer courts have received 78,031 new cases, with 65,537 resolved.
• E-Commerce Sector Problems: Complaints against e-commerce companies reached 4.6 lakh in 2023-24, an 11% increase from 4 lakh complaints in 2022-23. Over four years from 2020-21 to 2023-24, e-commerce complaints surged 117%, from 2,05,393 to 4,45,960 cases. This massive increase reflects both growing online shopping and serious problems with how companies treat customers.
• Disposal Rates Declining: While consumer courts disposed of more cases than filed in 2022 (1.83 lakh disposed versus 1.76 lakh filed) and 2023 (1.86 lakh disposed versus 1.74 lakh filed), the trend reversed in 2024 with only 1.58 lakh cases disposed while 1.73 lakh were filed. By July 2025, only 64,297 cases were decided compared to 76,318 filed, showing disposal rates continue falling below filing rates.
• Pending Cases Backlog: With disposal rates falling below filing rates, backlogs are growing across consumer courts nationwide. The crisis worsens as vacancies for presidents and members in state and district consumer commissions have increased significantly. This means consumers wait longer for justice while living with financial loss and frustration.
• Digital Channel Growth: Consumer adoption of digital channels has grown rapidly, with digital complaints increasing to 68,831 in fiscal year 2024-25 from 54,893 in the previous year. This shows people are more comfortable filing complaints online through platforms like the National Consumer Helpline app and e-Jagriti system.
• Success Stories in Some States: Despite overall challenges, some states achieved remarkable disposal rates in July 2025, with Tamil Nadu recording 277% disposal rate, Rajasthan 214%, Telangana 158%, and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission achieving 122% disposal rate, meaning they decided more cases than were filed that month.

Geographic Distribution and High-Risk States
Consumer complaints are not spread evenly across India, with certain states showing much higher volumes reflecting both population size and economic activity.

• Uttar Pradesh: Leads in absolute numbers with 9,104 cases filed in 2025 so far, though only 7,554 were resolved, leaving significant pending cases. The state faces maximum vacancies with 37 positions for presidents in district commissions unfilled.
• Gujarat: Recorded 8,239 cases filed in 2025 with 5,509 resolved, and faces 31 vacancies for presidents in district commissions.
• Maharashtra: Had 7,245 cases filed with 4,940 resolved in 2025, reflecting the state’s large population and high economic activity.
• Haryana: Recorded 6,690 cases filed with 4,532 resolved in 2025.
• Other High-Complaint States: Bihar faces 23 vacancies for district commission presidents, West Bengal 17 vacancies, and Odisha 17 vacancies, all contributing to slower case resolution. States like Madhya Pradesh also face significant backlogs mentioned specifically in Parliament discussions.
• States Performing Well: Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Kerala, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh achieved over 100% disposal rates in July 2025, showing effective court management and adequate staffing.

Types of Consumer Rights Violations
Consumer complaints cover a wide range of problems affecting different aspects of buying and selling.

• Deficiency in Services: The most common complaint category with 59,723 cases registered on National Consumer Helpline in recent data. Deficiency means any imperfection, defect in quality, quantity, worth, or standard required by law or promised by the seller. Examples include banks refusing to provide services promised, electricity companies cutting power without notice, hospitals providing wrong treatment, and lawyers not appearing in court despite taking fees.
• Delivery of Wrong Product: The second highest complaint category with 54,563 cases, where customers order one item but receive something completely different. This happens frequently in online shopping where sellers show pictures of good products but send inferior items.
• Defective or Damaged Products: Registered 53,285 complaints, involving items that arrive broken, malfunctioning, or with parts missing. Defective goods are those with faults, imperfections or shortcomings in quality, quantity, purity or standard required by law.
• Refunds Not Provided: With 50,997 complaints, this involves sellers keeping customer money despite not delivering products or providing refunds promised when items are returned. Many companies create difficult refund processes hoping customers will give up.
• Non-Delivery of Product: Registered 42,781 complaints where customers paid but never received anything. This is especially common in online shopping where sellers take payment and disappear.
• Delay in Delivery: Recorded 27,394 complaints where products arrive much later than promised, causing inconvenience and sometimes making items useless if needed for specific events or seasons.
• Replacement or Refund Refused Despite Policy: With 19,020 complaints, sellers refuse to honor their own return, replacement, or refund policies. They create excuses or claim the problem is the customer’s fault.
• Amount Debited But Not Credited: Registered 15,315 complaints involving money taken from one account but never reaching the intended recipient, common in banking and payment systems.
• Missing Product Parts or Accessories: With 15,077 complaints, customers receive incomplete items missing important parts or accessories shown in advertisements.
• Account Blocked or Service Barred: Recorded 5,913 complaints where service providers block accounts or stop services without proper explanation or despite customers paying bills.
• Spurious or Fake Goods: Items falsely claimed to be genuine or fake imitations of real products, often of inferior quality. Crucial examples include fake medicines that can cause death or serious health problems, and cheap makeup products containing dangerous chemicals.
• Charging Above Maximum Retail Price: Sellers charge more than the MRP printed on products, which is illegal but happens frequently, especially in tourist areas and remote villages.
• Unfair Trade Practices: Using deceptive, fraudulent, or unethical methods to sell products and services, including false advertising, misrepresentation, deceptive pricing, false free prize offers, and not following manufacturing standards.
• Misleading Advertisements: Advertisements that make false claims about product benefits, features, or prices to trick consumers into buying.

Profile of Victims and Affected Communities
While consumer problems can affect anyone, certain groups face higher risks and greater harm.

• Rural and Remote Area Residents: Face limited access to quality products and services, fewer alternatives if sellers cheat them, less awareness of rights and complaint processes, and difficulty traveling to consumer courts in cities.
• Lower Income Families: Suffer most from financial losses because they have no savings to absorb losses, cannot afford to buy replacements when cheated, face debt when scams take their money, and often skip meals when household budgets are disrupted.
• Elderly People: Face higher vulnerability because they are less familiar with technology and online scams, more trusting of sellers and less skeptical, physically unable to travel repeatedly to courts or shops, and targeted by fraudsters who view them as easy victims.
• Women and Marginalized Groups: Experience discrimination in service provision, receive lower quality products, face higher prices than others, and encounter rudeness and dismissal when making complaints.
• First-Time Online Shoppers: Lack experience identifying fake websites, legitimate sellers, or scam warning signs, making them easy targets for fraudsters operating online platforms.
• Non-English Speakers: Struggle with complaint processes conducted in English, legal documents they cannot understand, and websites without regional language options.

Root Causes of Consumer Rights Violations
Understanding why violations happen is key to prevention.

• Weak Enforcement of Laws: Despite strong consumer protection laws, enforcement remains inadequate because there are too few inspectors to monitor millions of sellers, inspectors lack training and resources, penalties are too small to deter violations, and corruption allows violators to escape consequences.
• Vacancies in Consumer Courts: With 18 of 36 state commissions lacking presidents and 218 of 685 district commissions without sitting presidents, cases move very slowly, encouraging sellers to violate rights knowing consumers will give up waiting for justice.
• Profit Maximization Over Ethics: Many businesses prioritize maximizing profit over treating customers fairly, cutting costs by reducing quality, making false claims to increase sales, and refusing refunds to keep more money.
• Information Imbalance: Sellers know everything about their products while buyers rely on sellers for information, creating opportunities for sellers to hide defects, exaggerate benefits, and mislead about prices.
• Complex Legal Processes: The consumer complaint process remains difficult despite reforms, requiring extensive documentation, multiple court appearances, and patience over months or years, causing many consumers to abandon legitimate claims.
• Low Consumer Awareness: Many people do not know their rights, available complaint mechanisms, or that free legal aid exists, preventing them from seeking justice even when severely harmed.
• Anonymous Online Platforms: E-commerce growth creates opportunities for fraudsters to operate with fake business names, disappear after collecting money, and reappear with new names after being caught.

The Devastating Financial Impact
The economic harm from consumer rights violations affects individuals and families severely.

• Direct Financial Losses: Consumers lose the money paid for products never received, spend additional money replacing defective items, lose deposits and advance payments when services are not provided, and waste money on worthless fake products.
• Time and Opportunity Costs: People spend hours filing complaints, traveling to consumer courts, following up with sellers and authorities, taking time off work without pay, and missing other opportunities while pursuing justice.
• Cascading Economic Effects: Initial losses lead to other problems including inability to pay bills on time, borrowing money at high interest, selling assets to cover gaps, and cutting essential spending on food, medicine, or children’s education.
• Small Businesses Suffer: Small shop owners and service providers who genuinely care about quality face unfair competition from those who cheat, lose customers who stop trusting all sellers after being cheated, and struggle financially when their reputation suffers due to industry-wide problems.
• National Economic Impact: Consumer rights violations reduce overall economic growth by reducing consumer confidence and spending, encouraging people to save rather than spend due to fear of being cheated, reducing foreign investment when investors see weak consumer protection, and wasting resources on worthless products rather than productive uses.

Health and Safety Impact
Many consumer rights violations directly threaten health and safety.

• Fake Medicines: Spurious pharmaceutical products sold under false names or imitating genuine medicines can fail to treat diseases, contain dangerous substances causing poisoning, create antibiotic resistance when they contain weak doses, and cause death in severe cases.
• Contaminated Food Products: Adulterated food products mixed with cheaper or dangerous substances cause immediate illness like food poisoning, long-term health problems including cancer from preservatives, nutritional deficiencies when expensive foods are diluted, and allergic reactions when unlisted ingredients are added.
• Unsafe Products: Defective electrical appliances cause fires and electrocution, faulty vehicle parts cause accidents, contaminated cosmetics damage skin and eyes, and toys with dangerous parts harm children.
• Medical Service Deficiencies: Wrong diagnoses lead to incorrect treatment, surgical mistakes cause permanent damage, contaminated equipment spreads infections, and delays in emergency care result in death.

Psychological and Emotional Impact
The mental health toll of consumer violations is significant though often overlooked.

• Stress and Anxiety: Victims experience constant worry about how to recover losses, fear of being cheated again, stress from dealing with unresponsive sellers, and anxiety about family reactions to wasted money.
• Depression and Hopelessness: People feel depressed when they realize they have been cheated, helpless when complaint processes seem impossible, worthless when they blame themselves, and hopeless about getting justice.
• Loss of Trust: Being cheated destroys trust in sellers and service providers, reduces willingness to try new products or businesses, increases suspicion in all transactions, and damages social fabric when people cannot trust each other.
• Family Conflict: Financial losses from scams cause fights between spouses, blame toward family members who made purchases, reduced respect when heads of households lose money, and breakup of relationships under financial stress.
• Social Shame: Victims feel ashamed to admit being cheated, face ridicule from neighbors who hear about losses, lose social standing in communities, and isolate themselves to avoid questions.

Your donation to BRAC helps address this massive problem comprehensively. It funds legal aid that helps victims file complaints and pursue justice, awareness campaigns that teach people their rights, monitoring systems that catch violators before they harm more people, support services that help families recover from losses, and advocacy work that strengthens laws and enforcement. Every contribution moves us toward a marketplace where consumers are protected and sellers compete on quality rather than fraud.

3. Legal Framework: Laws and Policies Protecting Consumer Rights
India has developed a comprehensive legal framework to protect consumers, punish violators, and provide redress for victims. This framework combines constitutional rights, the Consumer Protection Act of 2019, criminal law provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and specialized institutions.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON INDIAN CRIMINAL LAW (AS OF 2025):
On July 1, 2024, India implemented a new set of criminal laws. All criminal legal references in this article are based on these current laws:

• The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which replaces the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which replaces the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
• The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023, which replaces the Indian Evidence Act.
  All references to the old IPC and CrPC are no longer valid for current legal matters.

Constitutional Protections: The Foundation
The Indian Constitution provides fundamental protections forming the basis for consumer protection laws.

• Article 19(1)(g) – Freedom of Trade and Commerce: Guarantees citizens the right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade, or business, but this right is not absolute and must be exercised without harming consumer interests. Courts have held that this right includes the consumer’s right to be protected from exploitation.
• Article 21 – Right to Life and Personal Liberty: Guarantees every person the right to life and personal liberty, which the Supreme Court has interpreted to include the right to live with dignity and safety, protecting consumers from products and services that threaten health and life.
• Article 14 – Equality Before Law: Guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of laws, requiring that all consumers be treated fairly regardless of economic status, social position, or education level.
• Article 39(e) – Directive Principles: Directs state policy to ensure that citizens’ health and strength are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter occupations unsuited to their age or strength, protecting consumers from exploitation.

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019: Comprehensive Protection
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 came into full effect on July 20, 2020, replacing the Consumer Protection Act of 1986. It provides comprehensive protection addressing modern challenges including e-commerce, misleading advertisements, and product liability.

Key Definitions and Scope:

• Definition of Consumer: A consumer is any person who buys goods for consideration, hires or uses services for consideration, or any beneficiary of such goods or services when approved by the buyer. This includes online purchases and digital services.
• Definition of Defect: Any fault, imperfection, or shortcoming in quality, quantity, potency, purity, or standard required by law or agreement, including any act amounting to unfair trade practice or restrictive trade practice.
• Definition of Deficiency: Any fault, imperfection, shortcoming in quality, nature, and manner of performance required to be maintained by law or agreement regarding services.
• Definition of Unfair Trade Practice: Any practice that involves false representation of goods or services, false or misleading facts disparaging competitors, conducting deceptive contests or schemes, not providing information required by law, or other practices specified in regulations.

Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA):
The Act establishes the Central Consumer Protection Authority with wide powers to protect consumer rights.

• Powers of CCPA: The Authority can conduct investigations into violations, initiate complaints and prosecution, file class action suits on behalf of consumers, impose penalties for misleading advertisements (up to Rs. 10 lakhs for first offense and Rs. 50 lakhs for subsequent offenses), issue recalls of unsafe goods, and direct companies to stop unfair trade practices.
• Product Safety Standards: CCPA ensures products meet safety standards and can prohibit manufacture, import, or sale of products that harm consumer interests.
• Misleading Advertisement Control: CCPA takes action against manufacturers, service providers, and advertisers who promote misleading advertisements that deceive consumers about product features, prices, or benefits.

Three-Tier Consumer Disputes Redressal System:
The Act establishes consumer commissions at three levels with increased monetary jurisdiction.

• District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission: Handles complaints where the value of goods or services and compensation claimed does not exceed Rs. 1 crore. However, 218 of 685 district commissions lack sitting presidents and 518 member positions are vacant, severely limiting their capacity.
• State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission: Handles complaints where the value exceeds Rs. 1 crore but does not exceed Rs. 10 crore, and hears appeals from district commission orders. Currently, 18 of 36 state commissions lack presidents and 62 member positions are vacant.
• National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission: Handles complaints where the value exceeds Rs. 10 crore and hears appeals from state commission orders. The NCDRC achieved a 122% disposal rate in July 2025, deciding more cases than filed.

Procedural Reforms:
The 2019 Act introduced important procedural improvements to make justice faster and more accessible.

• Online Complaint Filing: Consumers can file complaints online from their residence or workplace, regardless of where the transaction occurred, through the e-Daakhil system integrated into the e-Jagriti platform.
• Video Conferencing: Hearings can be conducted through video conferencing, reducing the need for repeated travel to courts. This infrastructure has been extended to 10 benches of NCDRC and 35 benches of state commissions.
• Deemed Admissibility: If a complaint is not decided within 21 days of filing, it is deemed admitted, preventing endless delays.
• Time Limits for Resolution: Every complaint must be decided quickly—within three months from receipt of notice where the complaint does not require analysis or testing, and within five months if analysis or testing is required.
• Mediation: The Act provides for mediation as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, encouraging settlement without lengthy court battles.

Product Liability Provisions:
The Act introduces comprehensive product liability rules holding manufacturers, sellers, and service providers accountable.

• Strict Liability: Manufacturers, sellers, and service providers can be held liable for harm caused by defective products or deficient services even without proving negligence.
• Who Can Be Held Liable: Product manufacturer, product service provider, and product seller can all be held liable depending on their role in the defect.
• Defenses Available: Defendants can avoid liability only by proving the defect did not exist when the product was supplied, the complainant misused the product, or they complied with mandatory standards and the defect arose despite compliance.
• Compensation: Victims can claim compensation for personal injury, death, property damage, and mental agony caused by defective products.

E-Commerce Regulations:
Recognizing the explosive growth of online shopping, the Act includes specific provisions for e-commerce.

• Mandatory Disclosures: E-commerce entities must display total price of goods or services, country of origin, expiry date, all information required under law, payment methods accepted, return and refund policies, warranty and guarantee terms, delivery times, complaint redressal mechanism, and contact details.
• Prohibition of Unfair Practices: E-commerce companies cannot manipulate search results to promote certain sellers for payments, discriminate between consumers, or engage in flash sales without proper disclosure.
• Record Keeping: E-commerce platforms must maintain records for five years to facilitate investigation of complaints.
• Grievance Officers: Every e-commerce entity must appoint a grievance officer to handle consumer complaints, with contact details prominently displayed.

Criminal Law Provisions: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023
While the Consumer Protection Act provides civil remedies, the BNS provides criminal punishment for serious violations involving fraud and cheating.

Section 318 – Cheating:
This comprehensive section criminalizes deceiving consumers to make them deliver property or take harmful actions.

• Basic Cheating: Whoever deceives any person and fraudulently or dishonestly induces that person to deliver any property, consent to keep any property, or do or omit to do anything causing harm, commits cheating. Punishment is imprisonment up to 3 years, fine, or both.
• Aggravated Cheating: When the offender knows they are likely to cause wrongful loss to a person whose interests they are bound to protect, punishment increases to imprisonment up to 5 years, fine, or both.
• Cheating Inducing Property Delivery: When cheating induces delivery of property or making, altering, or destroying valuable security, punishment is imprisonment up to 7 years and fine. This applies directly to consumer fraud cases where sellers take payment but deliver defective goods or nothing at all.

Illustrations Relevant to Consumer Cases:
The law provides specific illustrations showing how cheating applies to consumer transactions:

• False Quality Claims: A seller exhibits to a buyer a false sample of an article, intentionally deceiving the buyer into believing the article matches the sample, thereby dishonestly inducing the buyer to purchase and pay for the article that is actually inferior. This is cheating.
• False Manufacturer Claims: A seller displays to a buyer an article manufactured by a certain famous manufacturer, but the article is actually manufactured by someone else, and the seller conceals this fact, inducing the buyer to pay a premium price for an inferior item. This is cheating.
• Payment Fraud: A seller accepts payment by a bill drawn on a house with which the seller keeps no money, expecting the bill will be dishonored, intentionally deceiving the buyer to obtain goods without paying. This is cheating.
  
  Section 319 – Cheating by Personation:
  When a person cheats by pretending to be someone else or knowingly substitutes one person for another, or represents that they or any other person is a person they are not, punishment is imprisonment up to 5 years, fine, or both. This applies to scams where fraudsters impersonate legitimate businesses or service providers.
  
  Section 320 – Fraudulent Deeds and Dispositions:
  Whoever dishonestly or fraudulently removes, conceals, or delivers property intending to prevent distribution according to law among creditors or claimants commits fraud punishable with imprisonment up to 3 years, fine, or both.

Landmark Supreme Court Judgments
Supreme Court decisions have significantly shaped consumer protection law interpretation and application.

Indian Medical Association vs. V.P. Shantha (1995):
This landmark case brought medical professionals under the Consumer Protection Act, establishing that services rendered for payment constitute consumer transactions even by professionals. The Court held that patients paying for medical services are consumers entitled to protection under the Act. This principle extends to all service providers.

Lucknow Development Authority vs. M.K. Gupta (1994):
The Supreme Court held that housing development authorities providing flats to allottees are service providers under the Consumer Protection Act, and failure to provide flats within promised time or providing deficient services constitutes deficiency. This established that government and semi-government entities providing services for payment are accountable as service providers.

Citicorp Finance (India) Ltd. vs. Snehasis Nanda (2025):
The Supreme Court clarified that the Consumer Protection Act requires a direct agreement or relationship between the consumer and service provider. A person cannot file consumer complaint against a party with whom they have no agreement or connection. This judgment defines the boundaries of who can sue whom under consumer law.

Kozyflex Mattresses Private Limited vs. SBI General Insurance Company Limited (2024):
The Supreme Court provided important interpretation of the Consumer Protection Act regarding insurance disputes and the jurisdiction of consumer courts in commercial matters. This judgment clarified when business entities can seek relief under consumer protection laws.

Enforcement Gaps and Challenges
Despite strong legal frameworks, implementation faces serious obstacles.

• Massive Vacancies: With 18 of 36 state commissions lacking presidents, 62 state commission member positions vacant, 218 of 685 district commissions without presidents, and 518 district commission member positions vacant, the system cannot function at full capacity. States like Uttar Pradesh face 37 vacant president positions in district commissions alone.
• Declining Disposal Rates: After achieving over 100% disposal rates in 2022 and 2023, disposal rates fell below filing rates in 2024 and continue declining in 2025, creating growing backlogs.
• Delayed Justice: Consumers wait months or years for hearings and decisions, with many cases pending from previous years. Of cases filed before 2025, many remain undecided despite the three-month resolution timeline mandated by law.
• Limited Awareness: Despite the National Consumer Helpline and e-Jagriti platform, most consumers remain unaware of their rights, complaint mechanisms, or available free legal aid.
• Weak CCPA Enforcement: The Central Consumer Protection Authority lacks sufficient staff and resources to monitor millions of businesses, investigate complaints thoroughly, and take enforcement action against violators.
• E-Commerce Enforcement Challenges: While regulations exist, enforcing them against online platforms and sellers who operate anonymously or from other countries remains extremely difficult.

Donate to BRAC to fund our legal aid programs that help consumers file complaints properly, navigate the complex court system, ensure complaints are decided within legal time limits, pursue appeals when justice is denied, advocate for filling vacant positions in consumer courts, and push for stronger enforcement mechanisms. Your support ensures the strong laws designed to protect consumers actually work in practice.

4. Challenges: Barriers to Achieving Full Consumer Protection
Despite comprehensive legal frameworks and growing awareness, achieving full consumer protection faces serious challenges operating at institutional, economic, social, and technological levels. These interconnected barriers create an environment where violations continue despite laws meant to prevent them.

Institutional and System Failures
The consumer protection system faces critical capacity and functioning problems.

• Massive Staff Shortages: Consumer commissions across India face crippling vacancies, with 18 of 36 state commissions operating without presidents and 218 of 685 district commissions lacking sitting presidents. Member positions show similar problems with 62 vacant positions in state commissions and 518 in district commissions. States like Uttar Pradesh face 37 vacant president positions, Gujarat 31, and Bihar 23 in just district-level commissions. These vacancies paralyze the system’s ability to handle cases promptly.
• Declining Disposal Rates: After years of improvement where consumer commissions decided more cases than filed (1.83 lakh disposed versus 1.76 lakh filed in 2022, and 1.86 lakh disposed versus 1.74 lakh filed in 2023), the trend reversed sharply in 2024 with only 1.58 lakh cases disposed while 1.73 lakh were filed. This decline continues in 2025 with only 64,297 cases decided against 76,318 filed by July.
• Growing Backlogs: The gap between filing and disposal rates creates mounting backlogs, meaning consumers wait increasingly long periods for justice. Many cases filed years ago remain pending, with complainants losing hope and witnesses’ memories fading.
• Infrastructure Limitations: Despite video conferencing facilities at 10 NCDRC benches and 35 state commission benches, most district commissions lack this technology, forcing consumers to travel repeatedly for hearings. Rural consumers face particular hardship traveling to district headquarters for each hearing date.
• Inadequate Support Staff: Consumer commissions lack sufficient administrative staff, leading to delays in file processing, notice issuance, record keeping, and order preparation. This compounds delays caused by judicial vacancies.
• Limited Operating Hours: Most consumer commissions function during regular business hours, making it difficult for working people to attend hearings without losing wages. Unlike some countries where consumer forums operate evenings and weekends, Indian commissions follow traditional court timings.

Enforcement and Compliance Challenges
Even when laws and institutions exist, enforcement remains weak.

• Weak Monitoring of Sellers: The Central Consumer Protection Authority and state-level enforcement agencies lack sufficient inspectors to monitor millions of businesses selling goods and services. Those inspectors who exist often lack proper training, transportation, and technological tools to detect violations effectively.
• Penalties Too Small: Fines imposed on violators are often too small to deter violations, especially for large companies where penalties of Rs. 10-50 lakhs represent tiny fractions of profits earned through unfair practices. When the cost of compliance exceeds the risk-adjusted cost of penalties, rational businesses choose to violate laws.
• Difficulty Enforcing Orders: Even when consumer commissions order refunds, replacements, or compensation, enforcing these orders against unwilling businesses proves difficult. Businesses use delaying tactics, claim inability to pay, or simply ignore orders knowing enforcement mechanisms are weak.
• E-Commerce Enforcement Problems: Online sellers can operate anonymously or from outside India, making it extremely difficult to enforce regulations. Fraudulent sellers disappear after collecting money and reappear with new names and websites. Platform companies claim they are merely facilitating transactions and not responsible for seller actions.
• Lack of Prosecution: Criminal prosecution under BNS Section 318 for cheating consumers happens rarely despite widespread fraud. Police often refuse to register FIRs for consumer cheating, telling victims to approach consumer courts instead, even though both civil and criminal remedies should be available.
• State-Level Variation: Consumer protection enforcement varies dramatically across states, with some states like Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan achieving excellent disposal rates while others like Odisha and Madhya Pradesh face massive backlogs. This creates inequality where a consumer’s access to justice depends on which state they live in.

Economic and Market Structure Issues
The nature of modern markets creates inherent challenges for consumer protection.

• Information Asymmetry: Sellers know everything about their products while consumers must rely on sellers for information, creating structural disadvantage. Technical products like electronics, medicines, and financial services involve complexity beyond most consumers’ expertise, making deception easy.
• Rise of E-Commerce: While online shopping provides convenience and choice, it also creates new problems including inability to physically inspect products before purchase, dealing with sellers in distant locations making returns difficult, anonymous sellers who cannot be traced, fake reviews manipulating purchase decisions, and misleading product photos and descriptions. E-commerce complaints surged 117% in four years, reaching 4.6 lakh in 2023-24.
• Supply Chain Complexity: Modern products pass through multiple hands from manufacturer to distributor to retailer, making it difficult to determine who is responsible when defects occur. Each party blames others, leaving consumers unable to get redress.
• Cross-Border Transactions: Increasing numbers of products and services come from sellers in other countries or other states, raising questions about which consumer commission has jurisdiction and how to enforce orders against distant parties.
• Cost of Compliance: Legitimate businesses face costs to comply with consumer protection regulations including maintaining records, providing proper information, honoring warranties, and handling returns. When competitors violate these rules without consequences, honest businesses face unfair disadvantage, creating pressure for all businesses to cut corners.

Consumer-Level Barriers
Individual consumers face obstacles preventing them from asserting their rights.

• Lack of Awareness: Most consumers remain unaware of their rights under the Consumer Protection Act, available complaint mechanisms like the National Consumer Helpline and consumer courts, time limits for filing complaints, or that free legal aid is available. This ignorance prevents people from seeking justice even when seriously harmed.
• Language Barriers: Consumer protection materials, complaint forms, court proceedings, and orders are often in English or Hindi, creating barriers for speakers of regional languages. While the National Consumer Helpline operates in 17 languages and e-Jagriti provides multilingual interface, many official documents remain inaccessible to non-English speakers.
• Digital Divide: Online complaint filing through e-Daakhil and e-Jagriti platforms requires internet access, digital literacy, and compatible devices. Rural consumers, elderly people, and those from lower-income backgrounds often lack these capabilities, preventing them from accessing supposedly convenient online systems.
• Transaction Value Threshold: Many consumer problems involve small amounts—Rs. 500 for a defective product, Rs. 2,000 for a service not provided. The time, effort, and cost of pursuing complaints often exceeds the amount involved, causing rational consumers to write off losses rather than seek justice. Businesses exploit this rational apathy, knowing most customers will not complain about small frauds.
• Psychological Barriers: Consumers feel embarrassed admitting they were cheated, fear social shame from neighbors learning of losses, lack confidence dealing with legal systems, and face intimidation from sellers who threaten counter-suits or retaliation.
• Documentation Challenges: Filing complaints requires extensive documentation including purchase receipts, product warranties, correspondence with sellers, bank statements, and medical records in injury cases. Many consumers, especially in rural areas, do not maintain these records or lose them over time.

Seller Strategies to Avoid Accountability
Businesses employ various tactics to escape responsibility when consumers complain.

• Complicated Return Policies: Companies create return and refund policies so complex and restrictive that consumers cannot successfully return defective products. Requirements include returning items in original packaging which most people discard, providing extensive documentation, paying return shipping costs, and accepting store credit rather than refunds.
• Customer Service Barriers: Businesses make it deliberately difficult to contact customer service by providing no phone numbers, only email forms that are never answered, chatbots that provide useless automated responses, and customer service representatives in distant locations who lack authority to resolve problems.
• Blame Shifting: When problems arise, sellers blame manufacturers, manufacturers blame distributors, distributors blame retailers, and e-commerce platforms blame sellers, leaving consumers unable to identify who to hold accountable.
• Wear Down Tactics: Sellers hope consumers will give up by requiring repeated contacts, asking for the same information multiple times, promising callbacks that never come, and creating endless delays until consumers abandon complaints.
• Legal Intimidation: Some businesses respond to consumer complaints by threatening defamation suits, claiming the complaint constitutes harassment, or sending legal notices demanding the complaint be withdrawn. While these threats are usually baseless, they frighten consumers into silence.

Social and Cultural Factors
Certain social attitudes and practices enable consumer exploitation.

• Caveat Emptor Mentality: The old principle of “buyer beware” remains embedded in Indian commercial culture, with many viewing responsibility as entirely on consumers to protect themselves rather than on sellers to provide quality. This attitude excuses seller misconduct and blames victims.
• Status-Based Treatment: Sellers often provide different quality service and products based on customers’ perceived social status, giving better treatment to wealthy, educated, urban customers while providing inferior goods and dismissive service to poor, rural, or marginalized customers. This discrimination violates equality principles but happens routinely.
• Reluctance to Complain: Indian social norms emphasize adjustment and acceptance rather than assertion of rights. Many people view complaining as impolite, undignified, or creating unnecessary conflict, preferring to absorb losses quietly rather than make formal complaints.
• Relationship-Based Commerce: In small communities, consumers and sellers often have ongoing relationships and social connections. Consumers fear that complaining will damage these relationships, lead to social isolation, or result in retailers refusing future business.

Technological and Modern Challenges
New technologies create consumer protection challenges lawmakers did not anticipate.

• Digital Payment Frauds: Increasing use of digital payments creates new fraud opportunities including phishing messages tricking people into revealing passwords, fake payment apps stealing bank information, unauthorized transactions after data breaches, and QR code scams leading to fraudulent accounts.
• Data Privacy Violations: Companies collect extensive personal data from consumers, often without proper consent or disclosure of how data will be used. This data is sold to third parties, used for manipulative targeted advertising, or stolen in breaches exposing consumers to identity theft.
• Algorithm-Driven Discrimination: E-commerce platforms use algorithms to determine which products to show consumers and at what prices. These algorithms can discriminate based on location, browsing history, or other factors, showing different prices to different consumers for the same products.
• Cryptocurrency and Digital Asset Scams: New forms of investment and payment through cryptocurrencies and digital assets create fraud opportunities while providing no consumer protection. People lose money in fraudulent schemes with no avenue for recovery.
• Misinformation Through Social Media: Sellers use social media to spread false information about products, create fake testimonials, manipulate reviews, and conduct scams through advertisements on platforms that provide no verification of sellers.

Your contribution to BRAC helps overcome these systemic challenges by addressing root causes. We work to fill gaps in the consumer protection system through legal aid, strengthen enforcement through advocacy and monitoring, educate consumers about their rights through campaigns in multiple languages, support vulnerable groups facing particular barriers, document violations to inform policy reforms, and build alternative dispute resolution systems. Every rupee donated moves us toward a system where consumer rights are not just written in law but actually protected in practice.

5. Solutions: Building a Consumer-Rights-Protected India
Protecting consumer rights requires a complete plan addressing prevention of violations, immediate response when problems occur, support for victims, system improvements, and social change. BRAC implements an integrated “Five Pillars of Consumer Protection” model based on evidence and experience.

Pillar 1: Awareness, Education, and Prevention Programs
Preventing violations before they happen is the most effective approach.

Community Education and Awareness Campaigns:

• Village and Neighborhood Outreach: We conduct intensive awareness campaigns in rural and urban areas across states with high complaint volumes including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha using street theater, posters, films, and community meetings to educate people about their consumer rights, common scams, and how to file complaints.
• School and College Programs: We implement education programs in schools and colleges teaching young people about smart shopping, identifying fake products, understanding rights and responsibilities, reading terms and conditions, and filing complaints when needed.
• Women’s Groups and Self-Help Groups: We empower women’s self-help groups to serve as consumer protection watchdogs in their communities, share information about problems with local sellers, support each other in filing complaints, and create collective pressure for honest business practices.
• Digital Literacy Programs: We conduct training on safe online shopping including verifying legitimate websites, identifying scam warning signs, protecting passwords and banking information, using secure payment methods, and reporting fraudulent sellers.
• Multi-Language Materials: We develop consumer rights education materials in Hindi, English, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, and other regional languages, ensuring information reaches non-English speakers.
• Sector-Specific Education: We create targeted campaigns for high-complaint sectors including e-commerce shopping, banking and financial services, telecommunications, food products, medicines and healthcare, and real estate, addressing specific problems in each sector.

Consumer Rights Helpdesk and Information Services:

• Toll-Free Helpline: We operate a consumer rights helpline in multiple languages where people can ask questions about their rights, get advice on handling specific problems, and receive guidance on filing complaints.
• SMS and WhatsApp Services: Recognizing that many people lack internet access but have mobile phones, we provide information and support through SMS and WhatsApp, allowing people to send photos of defective products and receive advice.
• Community Information Centers: We establish consumer rights information centers in district headquarters and block offices where people can walk in for face-to-face guidance, access complaint forms and documentation help, and use internet facilities to file online complaints.
• Mobile Legal Clinics: We send teams to remote villages and urban slums conducting one-day legal aid camps where people can bring consumer problems, receive on-the-spot advice, and get help initiating complaints.

Early Warning and Scam Alert Systems:

• Fraud Database: We maintain a database of known fraudulent sellers, fake websites, common scams, and dangerous products, making this information publicly available through our website and social media.
• Community Reporting Network: We create systems where people can report new scams they encounter, warn others in their area, share information about dishonest sellers, and alert authorities to emerging threats.
• Partnership with Consumer Helpline: We coordinate with the National Consumer Helpline to share information about complaint patterns, identify sellers with multiple complaints, and alert consumers about high-risk businesses.
• Media Collaboration: We work with local newspapers, radio, and television to publish weekly consumer alerts, share stories about common scams, highlight dishonest businesses, and explain new threats.

Seller Education and Compliance Support:

• Training for Small Businesses: We recognize many sellers violate consumer rights due to ignorance rather than malice, so we conduct training programs for small shopkeepers and service providers about legal requirements, honest business practices, benefits of good customer service, and how to handle complaints properly.
• Compliance Tools: We develop simple checklists, forms, and procedures helping businesses comply with consumer protection laws without expensive consultants, making compliance accessible for small businesses.
• Industry Standards Development: We work with business associations to develop voluntary codes of conduct exceeding legal minimums, creating industry-wide standards for honest practices.
• Recognition Programs: We create awards and recognition for businesses demonstrating excellent consumer service, providing positive incentives for honest practices rather than only penalties for violations.

Pillar 2: Legal Aid and Complaint Support Services
When violations occur, consumers need help navigating complaint processes and asserting their rights.

Free Legal Aid for Consumer Cases:

• Legal Consultation: Our lawyers provide free consultations where people can explain their problems, learn whether they have valid claims, understand options for resolution, and receive honest advice about likely outcomes.
• Complaint Drafting Services: We help consumers prepare properly formatted complaints meeting all legal requirements, gathering required documentation, writing clear statements of facts, calculating appropriate compensation, and filing with correct consumer commission jurisdiction.
• Representation in Consumer Courts: Our legal team represents consumers in district, state, and national consumer commissions, handling all hearings, presenting evidence, examining witnesses, making legal arguments, and pursuing cases through to final orders.
• Appeals and Reviews: When consumer commissions issue unjust orders, we file appeals to higher forums, petition for review of erroneous decisions, and pursue cases through all levels including the Supreme Court when necessary to establish important legal principles.
• Criminal Complaints Support: When consumer fraud involves deliberate cheating punishable under BNS Section 318, we help victims file FIRs with police, provide legal representation in criminal cases, pursue prosecution of fraudulent sellers, and seek both civil compensation and criminal punishment.

Alternative Dispute Resolution and Mediation:

• Pre-Litigation Mediation: Following the Mediation Act of 2023 and Sections 37A and 37B of the Consumer Protection Act, we provide mediation services helping consumers and sellers reach negotiated settlements without lengthy court battles. Mediation resolves disputes faster, costs less than litigation, allows flexible solutions, and preserves business relationships.
• Trained Mediators: Our certified mediators facilitate discussions between parties, help identify common interests, propose creative solutions, and draft settlement agreements acceptable to both sides.
• Online Mediation Services: We utilize technology platforms for online mediation, allowing parties in different locations to participate, reducing travel costs and time, and making dispute resolution accessible to rural consumers.
• Settlement Enforcement: We ensure mediated settlements are properly documented, registered with consumer commissions when appropriate, and enforced if parties fail to comply.

Documentation and Evidence Support:

• Evidence Collection Assistance: We help consumers gather necessary evidence including organizing receipts and bills, photographing defective products, recording correspondence with sellers, obtaining expert reports on product defects, and securing witness statements.
• Technical Expert Services: For cases involving complex technical issues like electronics, construction, medical devices, or chemicals, we arrange expert examinations, laboratory testing, professional evaluations, and expert testimony in consumer courts.
• Record Preservation: We educate consumers on maintaining transaction records, saving digital communications, documenting verbal promises in writing, and preserving product packaging and warranties.

Online Complaint Filing Support:

• e-Jagriti Platform Assistance: We help consumers navigate the e-Jagriti unified digital platform launched on January 1, 2025, which integrates legacy systems and enables complaint filing from anywhere in India or abroad. The platform offers OTP-based registration, online fee payment, real-time case tracking, virtual hearings, multilingual support, and voice-to-text features for visually challenged users.
• e-Daakhil Filing Help: We assist with online complaint submission through the e-Daakhil system now integrated into e-Jagriti, ensuring proper formatting, correct jurisdiction selection, and complete documentation upload.
• Digital Literacy Training: We conduct workshops teaching consumers to use online filing systems, create accounts, upload documents, track case status, and participate in video hearings.

Convergence Program Linkages:

• Company Partnership for Faster Resolution: We connect consumers with the National Consumer Helpline’s company partnership program involving 1,038 companies that voluntarily agree to resolve complaints directly before court cases are filed, allowing faster settlements without lengthy court battles. This program grew from 263 companies in 2017 to over 1,000 companies in 2025, showing companies want to handle complaints better and treat customers fairly.
• Corporate Mediation Channels: We facilitate direct negotiations between consumers and participating companies through the convergence program, achieving quick refunds and replacements, resolving disputes within days rather than months, and reducing court backlogs.

Follow-Up and Enforcement:

• Case Monitoring: We track cases through all stages, ensure deadlines are met, follow up on pending orders, and alert consumers to hearing dates and submission requirements.
• Order Execution Support: When consumer commissions issue favorable orders, we help consumers execute orders against unwilling respondents, attach property or bank accounts if needed, file contempt petitions when orders are ignored, and pursue recovery of awarded compensation.

Pillar 3: Victim Support and Rehabilitation Services
Consumers who lose money to fraud face immediate and long-term challenges requiring comprehensive support beyond legal aid.

Emergency Financial Assistance:

• Crisis Relief Funds: We provide emergency financial assistance to families who lost significant money to consumer fraud and face immediate hardship, including funds for essential food and medicine, school fee payments for children, temporary housing assistance, and debt relief to prevent asset loss.
• Interest-Free Loans: For larger losses, we offer interest-free loans allowing families to recover financially while pursuing legal cases, with repayment schedules adjusted to family circumstances.
• Livelihood Support: When fraud victims lose capital for small businesses or face unemployment, we provide funds to restart businesses, training for alternative income sources, equipment and inventory support, and connections to microfinance for sustainable recovery.

Psychological Counseling and Mental Health Services:

• Trauma Counseling: Consumer fraud causes severe psychological distress including shame, depression, anxiety, and family conflict. We provide professional counseling helping victims process trauma, overcome feelings of worthlessness, develop coping strategies, and rebuild confidence.
• Family Therapy: We offer family counseling to address conflicts arising from financial losses, restore communication and trust, develop joint recovery plans, and prevent relationship breakdown.
• Support Groups: We facilitate peer support groups where fraud victims share experiences, learn from others’ recovery, reduce isolation and shame, and build solidarity and mutual encouragement.
• Mental Health Referrals: For severe depression, anxiety, or trauma, we connect victims with psychiatric services, subsidize medication costs when needed, and ensure ongoing mental health care.

Consumer Education for Victims:

• Learning from Experience: We help fraud victims understand how they were deceived, recognize warning signs they missed, develop skepticism toward deceptive tactics, and make safer purchasing decisions in the future.
• Rights Awareness: Many fraud victims did not know their consumer rights before being cheated. We provide intensive education ensuring they understand rights going forward, available protections and complaint mechanisms, and how to assert rights confidently.
• Peer Education Roles: We train recovered victims to become consumer rights educators in their communities, sharing their stories as warnings, teaching others to avoid scams, and mentoring new victims through recovery.

Community Reintegration and Social Support:

• Addressing Social Shame: Consumer fraud victims often face ridicule and isolation in their communities. We work to shift blame from victims to perpetrators, build community understanding and support, facilitate dialogue about shared vulnerability, and restore victims’ social standing.
• Economic Reintegration: We help victims rebuild economic lives through skill development training, job placement assistance, business restart support, and connection to self-help groups and cooperatives.
• Legal Status Restoration: When fraud leads to debt defaults, bounced checks, or credit problems, we help victims clear credit records, negotiate with creditors, avoid criminal prosecution for debt, and restore financial reputation.

Long-Term Recovery Monitoring:

• Case Management: We assign caseworkers to follow families for months or years after initial crisis, monitoring recovery progress, addressing emerging needs, and ensuring sustained improvement rather than short-term relief.
• Financial Literacy: We provide ongoing education on budgeting, saving, safe financial products, avoiding debt traps, and building economic resilience to withstand future shocks.
• Connection to Social Services: We link families to government welfare schemes, subsidized food and healthcare, education support for children, housing assistance, and employment programs for comprehensive support.

Pillar 4: Systemic Reform and Advocacy
Individual case support is essential but insufficient without addressing systemic problems enabling widespread consumer rights violations.

Policy Advocacy and Legal Reform:

• Consumer Court Capacity Building: We advocate for filling 18 vacant state commission president positions, 62 vacant state commission member positions, 218 vacant district commission president positions, and 518 vacant district commission member positions. We submit detailed recommendations to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and state governments, monitor appointment processes, and raise public awareness about how vacancies delay justice.
• Strengthening CCPA Powers: We push for increased Central Consumer Protection Authority funding and staffing, stronger penalties for repeat violators, better coordination with state enforcement agencies, and mandatory reporting of compliance actions.
• E-Commerce Regulation Enhancement: Given the 117% surge in e-commerce complaints over four years, we advocate for mandatory seller verification before platform listing, stricter liability for platforms hosting fraudulent sellers, faster takedown of scam websites, and cross-border enforcement mechanisms.
• Criminal Law Enforcement: We push for police to routinely register FIRs under BNS Section 318 for consumer cheating cases, establish consumer fraud cells in police departments, train investigators in consumer fraud patterns, and coordinate civil and criminal proceedings.
• Mediation Expansion: Following the Mediation Act 2023, we advocate for mandatory mediation referrals in suitable cases, expansion of court-annexed mediation centers, training more consumer dispute mediators, and incentives for parties who attempt mediation before litigation.

Strategic Litigation and Precedent-Setting:

• Public Interest Litigation: We file PILs addressing systemic issues like failure to appoint consumer commission members, non-enforcement of product safety standards, misleading advertisements by major companies, and violations of online disclosure requirements.
• Establishing Legal Principles: We pursue landmark cases through Supreme Court to establish clear precedents on interpretation of deficiency and defect standards, product liability scope and defenses, e-commerce platform responsibilities, and consumers’ fundamental rights.
• Class Action Suits: Under Section 36 of the Consumer Protection Act, we file class action complaints on behalf of groups of consumers facing identical problems with the same seller or product, creating deterrent effect through large compensation awards.

Monitoring and Research:

• Violation Documentation System: We maintain comprehensive databases of consumer complaints by type, sector, geography, and seller, analyze patterns and trends, identify high-risk businesses and practices, and publish regular reports exposing systemic problems.
• Court Performance Monitoring: We track consumer commission performance including filing rates, disposal rates, pendency levels, vacancy positions, and average resolution times, publishing state-wise comparisons and identifying best practices.
• Impact Assessment Studies: We conduct research measuring consumer protection law effectiveness, compliance levels across sectors, consumer awareness and access to justice, and economic impact of violations and remedies.
• Early Warning Systems: We analyze complaint data to identify emerging scams, dangerous products entering markets, sectors showing increasing violations, and geographic areas needing intervention.

Stakeholder Collaboration and Coalition Building:

• Consumer Movement Unity: We coordinate with other consumer rights organizations, share resources and expertise, conduct joint campaigns, and present unified advocacy positions to government.
• Business Sector Engagement: We work with business associations promoting voluntary compliance, developing industry self-regulation codes, encouraging convergence program participation, and recognizing ethical businesses.
• Government Partnership: We partner with Ministry of Consumer Affairs, state consumer affairs departments, National Consumer Helpline, and consumer commissions on awareness campaigns, training programs, technology development, and policy implementation.
• Media Collaboration: We work with journalists exposing major consumer frauds, explaining complex legal issues, highlighting individual victim stories, and pressuring authorities for action.
• Academic Engagement: We collaborate with law schools and universities on consumer law research, student clinical programs providing legal aid, curriculum development on consumer rights, and hosting seminars bringing together experts, policymakers, and practitioners.

Technology and Innovation for Consumer Protection:

• Digital Complaint Platforms: We develop user-friendly mobile apps and websites for consumer rights information, complaint filing assistance, case tracking, and connecting with legal aid volunteers.
• AI and Data Analytics: We use artificial intelligence to analyze complaint patterns, predict emerging fraud types, match consumers with appropriate legal aid, and automate routine case processing.
• Blockchain for Transparency: We explore blockchain technology for product authentication, supply chain tracking, recording transactions immutably, and verifying seller credentials.
• Social Media Monitoring: We monitor social media platforms for consumer complaints, scam warnings, misleading advertisements, and viral fraud patterns, using this intelligence for targeted interventions.

Pillar 5: Systemic Prevention Through Market Transformation
Ultimate consumer protection requires transforming market culture from caveat emptor to seller accountability.

Ethical Business Certification and Recognition:

• Consumer Trust Certification: We develop voluntary certification programs for businesses meeting high consumer protection standards including transparent pricing and product information, easy return and refund processes, responsive customer service, ethical advertising, and regular third-party audits.
• Public Recognition: We publish annual lists of certified ethical businesses, promote certified businesses through our platforms, arrange media coverage highlighting good practices, and encourage consumers to preferentially support certified sellers.
• Corporate Social Responsibility Integration: We work with companies to integrate consumer rights protection into CSR strategies, showing how ethical treatment builds brand loyalty, reduces legal costs, and improves corporate reputation.
• Industry Self-Regulation: We facilitate industry associations developing codes of conduct, establishing internal dispute resolution, creating consumer ombudsmen positions, and imposing member discipline for violations.

Consumer Empowerment Through Information:

• Price Transparency Initiatives: We develop platforms comparing prices across sellers, exposing excessive markups, tracking price changes over time, and alerting consumers to fair market values.
• Product Quality Information: We publish independent testing results of common products, warnings about recalled or dangerous items, comparisons of product features and durability, and authentic user reviews free from manipulation.
• Seller Rating Systems: We maintain publicly accessible databases of seller complaint histories, court cases and outcomes, compliance with consumer commission orders, and customer satisfaction ratings.
• Rights Education Campaigns: We conduct intensive media campaigns using television, radio, newspapers, social media, street theater, and community events teaching people their consumer rights, how to identify scams and unfair practices, when and how to complain, and available support services.

Supporting Honest Businesses:

• Small Business Training: We provide free training to small shopkeepers and service providers on consumer protection law requirements, building customer loyalty through quality service, handling complaints effectively, and accessing certification programs.
• Fair Competition Advocacy: We advocate against market practices that disadvantage ethical businesses including inadequate enforcement allowing cheaper fraudulent competitors, regulatory costs falling disproportionately on formal sector, and consumer preference for lowest price over quality.
• Access to Credit and Markets: We help ethical small businesses access loans for quality improvements, connect to larger markets through our platforms, obtain bulk purchasing discounts, and benefit from positive publicity.

Government Procurement Reform:

• Linking to Consumer Record: We advocate that government procurement preferences favor businesses with good consumer protection records, exclude businesses with multiple sustained complaints, and require contractors to demonstrate compliance with consumer laws.
• Setting Model Standards: We push government departments to model best practices in their consumer-facing services, implement exemplary complaint handling, and demonstrate zero-tolerance for unfair practices in public services.

Education System Integration:

• School Curriculum: We work with education boards to integrate consumer rights education into school curricula teaching students from young ages about smart shopping, identifying fraud, making informed choices, and asserting rights.
• College Programs: We support law schools and business schools teaching consumer protection law, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and dispute resolution focusing on consumer cases.
• Teacher Training: We train teachers to effectively deliver consumer education, use real-world examples and case studies, and encourage students to teach families what they learn.

Your donation to BRAC supports all five pillars of this comprehensive approach. Every rupee contributes to preventing violations through education and awareness, providing legal aid when violations occur, helping victims recover from fraud, reforming systems enabling violations, and transforming market culture toward seller accountability. Together, we build an India where consumers can shop with confidence, knowing their rights are protected and violations bring swift consequences.

6. Societal Impact: The Cost of Consumer Rights Violations to India
Consumer rights violations impose enormous costs on Indian society extending far beyond individual financial losses. Understanding these broader impacts reveals why protecting consumer rights is essential for national development.

Economic Impact on Households and National Growth
The economic damage from consumer violations operates at multiple levels.

• Direct Financial Losses: With 4.6 lakh e-commerce complaints alone in 2023-24 and similar volumes in other sectors, assuming even modest average losses of Rs. 5,000 per complaint, direct consumer losses exceed Rs. 230 crores annually just from e-commerce fraud. Total losses across all sectors likely reach thousands of crores annually.
• Household Budget Disruption: When families lose money to fraud, they must cut spending on essential items including reducing food quality and quantity, delaying medical treatment, removing children from school, postponing necessary house repairs, and canceling insurance coverage. These cutbacks create cascading negative effects on health, education, and long-term family prosperity.
• Reduced Consumer Confidence: Widespread fraud reduces overall consumer confidence, causing people to save rather than spend from fear of being cheated, avoid trying new products or services, limit online shopping despite convenience, and restrict economic participation. This reduced consumption slows economic growth.
• Diversion of Resources: Time and money spent dealing with consumer problems represents wasted resources including hours filing complaints and attending hearings, travel costs to consumer courts, fees for lawyers and consultants, and opportunity costs of time lost from work. These resources could otherwise support productive activities.
• Damage to Honest Businesses: When fraudulent sellers undercut honest businesses by cutting costs through deception and poor quality, legitimate businesses lose customers, face pressure to compromise their own standards, cannot afford to invest in quality improvements, and sometimes close operations entirely. This drives good businesses from the market.
• Reduced Foreign Investment: International investors consider consumer protection strength when evaluating markets. Weak consumer protection signals poor rule of law, unreliable business environment, and reputational risks, reducing foreign investment in Indian businesses.

Public Health Consequences
Many consumer violations directly threaten public health.

• Spurious Medicines: Fake pharmaceutical products kill people whose diseases go untreated, cause poisoning from dangerous substances, spread antibiotic resistance through weak doses, and create public health emergencies when large numbers are affected. The problem is especially severe in rural areas with limited access to quality healthcare.
• Food Adulteration: Contaminated and adulterated food products cause immediate illness through food poisoning, long-term diseases including cancer from preservatives and chemicals, malnutrition when expensive proteins are diluted with cheap fillers, and growth stunting in children consuming adulterated milk. Poor families eating adulterated food suffer most severely.
• Unsafe Products: Defective goods cause physical injuries through electrical fires from faulty appliances, accidents from defective vehicle parts, poisoning from contaminated cosmetics, and choking and injuries to children from dangerous toys. Healthcare costs treating these injuries burden families and public health systems.
• Medical Service Deficiencies: Poor quality medical services result in death from wrong diagnoses or delayed treatment, permanent disability from surgical mistakes, infections from contaminated equipment, and worsened conditions from improper care. Victims and families bear lifetime consequences.
• Mental Health Crisis: The psychological toll of consumer fraud including depression, anxiety, trauma, family conflict, and social shame creates widespread mental health problems requiring treatment and reducing quality of life.

Impact on Vulnerable and Marginalized Communities
Consumer rights violations hit hardest those already facing disadvantage.

• Poverty Deepening: When poor families lose money to fraud, they fall deeper into poverty through accumulating debt, selling productive assets, reducing children’s education, and cutting nutritious food. Escaping poverty becomes nearly impossible when what little money they have is stolen through fraud.
• Rural-Urban Inequality: Rural consumers face higher risks because they have fewer seller choices, less access to information, greater difficulty reaching consumer courts, and less awareness of rights. This adds to existing rural-urban inequalities.
• Gender Impact: Women often manage household purchasing and suffer blame when fraud occurs, control less money making losses more devastating, face discrimination and dismissal when complaining, and lack confidence navigating legal systems. Consumer violations reinforce gender inequality.
• Caste and Community Discrimination: Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and minority communities routinely receive inferior products and services, pay higher prices than others for the same goods, face rudeness and refusal when complaining, and lack social capital to pursue justice effectively. Consumer market discrimination compounds broader social discrimination.
• Elderly Vulnerability: Older people are targeted by fraudsters as easy victims, struggle with new technologies creating fraud opportunities, cannot physically travel repeatedly to courts, and face isolation when fraud creates financial crisis. Consumer fraud preys on age vulnerability.

Erosion of Social Trust and Cohesion
Consumer violations damage the social fabric connecting people.

• Loss of Market Trust: When fraud is widespread, people cannot trust what sellers say, must assume all advertisements are false, approach every transaction with suspicion and stress, and view shopping as adversarial rather than cooperative exchange. This destroys efficient market functioning.
• Breakdown of Social Relationships: Consumer fraud creates conflict between spouses blaming each other for losses, resentment toward family members who made purchases, social shame causing isolation, and community divisions when neighbors have disputes with local sellers.
• Normalization of Unethical Behavior: When consumers see fraudsters escape consequences, young people learn dishonesty pays better than honesty, businesses feel pressure to match competitors’ unethical practices, and society develops cynical attitudes where everyone expects cheating. This moral decline affects behavior far beyond consumer transactions.
• Reduced Civic Participation: When people repeatedly experience justice delayed or denied in consumer courts, they lose faith in legal institutions, become cynical about government effectiveness, withdraw from civic participation, and tolerate corruption seeing it as inevitable. Consumer court failures undermine broader democratic institutions.

Burden on Judicial and Administrative Systems
Consumer rights violations create massive burdens for government institutions.

• Court Overload: Consumer commissions face 78,031 new cases in 2025 alone, adding to backlogs from previous years. With disposal rates falling below filing rates, backlogs grow annually. This overload delays justice in all cases and wastes judicial resources.
• Administrative Costs: The National Consumer Helpline received 1,55,138 complaints in December 2024, requiring extensive staff, technology, and operational costs to handle. States must fund consumer courts, enforcement agencies, and awareness programs, diverting resources from other needs.
• Incomplete Justice: With only 64,297 of 76,318 cases decided by July 2025 and many older cases still pending, many consumers never receive justice. Orders issued often go unenforced, making victories hollow. This incomplete justice wastes resources and demoralizes victims.

Impact on Digital Economy and Innovation
Consumer protection failures threaten India’s digital economy growth.

• E-Commerce Trust Deficit: The 117% surge in e-commerce complaints over four years shows serious problems undermining consumer confidence in online shopping. If consumers cannot trust e-commerce, India’s digital economy cannot reach its potential.
• Innovation Discouragement: When fraudulent businesses exploit new technologies, regulators respond with restrictive rules that also hinder legitimate innovation. The result is slower adoption of beneficial technologies including online services, digital payments, and delivery platforms.
• International Reputation: India’s aspirations for technology leadership are undermined when international reports highlight weak consumer protection, fraud prevalence, and inadequate redress systems. This affects India’s ability to attract technology investment and participation in global digital trade.

Supporting BRAC addresses these broad societal impacts comprehensively. Your donation helps reduce economic losses through prevention and recovery assistance, protect public health by exposing dangerous products and holding violators accountable, defend vulnerable communities who suffer most from consumer exploitation, restore social trust through demonstrating that justice is possible, reduce burdens on judicial systems through mediation and efficient case management, and build the trustworthy marketplace necessary for digital economy growth. Every contribution creates ripples of positive change extending far beyond individual cases.

7. Call to Action: Join BRAC’s Fight for Consumer Rights in India
The challenge of protecting consumer rights in India is urgent and massive, but progress is possible through collective action. BRAC has the plan, expertise, and commitment to create change, but we need your partnership to scale our impact.

Why Your Support Matters Now
This moment offers unique opportunities and urgent challenges demanding immediate action.

• Crisis Point: With e-commerce complaints surging 117% in four years to 4.6 lakh annually, disposal rates in consumer courts falling below filing rates for the first time since tracking began, and over 200 vacant judicial positions paralyzing the consumer protection system, India faces a consumer rights crisis requiring urgent intervention.
• Technology Transformation: The launch of e-Jagriti platform on January 1, 2025, integration of AI-powered services in the National Consumer Helpline, and the Mediation Act of 2023 create new opportunities for accessible justice that BRAC is positioned to help consumers utilize.
• Policy Window: Government commitment to consumer protection shown through e-Jagriti, expanded National Consumer Helpline capacity, and convergence program growth to 1,038 companies creates openings for advocacy pushing stronger enforcement, faster judicial appointments, and better protection.
• Vulnerable Communities at Risk: Poor families, rural residents, elderly people, and marginalized communities suffer most from consumer exploitation, facing deepening poverty, health crises, and hopelessness when fraud steals their limited resources. Immediate support can prevent permanent harm to the most vulnerable.

Ways to Support BRAC’s Consumer Rights Work
Every form of support, regardless of size, contributes meaningfully to protecting consumers.

One-Time Donations – Creating Immediate Impact:

• ₹2,000 provides legal consultation for one consumer facing fraud, including reviewing documents, assessing case strength, and explaining legal options and rights.
• ₹5,000 covers complaint filing costs for one family including drafting complaint, gathering documentation, online filing fees, and initial case management.
• ₹15,000 funds complete legal representation for one consumer through district commission including all hearings, evidence presentation, and pursuing order execution.
• ₹35,000 provides comprehensive support for one seriously affected family including emergency financial aid, legal representation, psychological counseling, and follow-up assistance for six months.
• ₹75,000 funds a consumer rights awareness campaign in one village or urban ward reaching 500 families through meetings, materials, and follow-up support establishing local legal aid volunteers.
• ₹1,50,000 supports establishing one permanent consumer rights information center in a district headquarters for one year, providing walk-in services, online filing assistance, document support, and community outreach serving 1,000 families annually.

Monthly Donations – Building Long-Term Change:

• ₹1,000 monthly supports one legal aid volunteer providing basic consumer rights guidance in their community, reviewing complaints, and connecting people with full legal services.
• ₹3,000 monthly funds ongoing case management for three families pursuing consumer complaints, including regular follow-up, deadline tracking, hearing coordination, and order execution support.
• ₹5,000 monthly supports one community educator conducting monthly awareness sessions, maintaining consumer helpdesk, creating local warning networks about scams, and coordinating with National Consumer Helpline.
• ₹10,000 monthly funds comprehensive programming in one geographic area including legal aid, victim support, awareness campaigns, seller training, advocacy, and monitoring serving 50 families monthly.

Volunteer Your Time and Skills:

• Legal Volunteers: Lawyers and law students can provide pro bono consultations, draft complaints and appeals, represent consumers in hearings, conduct legal literacy sessions, and mentor other volunteers.
• Documentation Volunteers: People with writing and research skills can help consumers gather evidence, organize documents, photograph defective products, prepare witness statements, and create case files.
• Technology Volunteers: Tech-savvy individuals can assist consumers with online complaint filing through e-Jagriti, teach digital literacy for safe online shopping, maintain our fraud alert database, and develop consumer protection apps and tools.
• Community Educators: People with public speaking abilities can conduct awareness sessions in villages and urban areas, translate materials into regional languages, create accessible educational content, and build local consumer protection networks.
• Counseling Volunteers: Trained counselors and social workers can provide psychological support to fraud victims, facilitate support groups, conduct family therapy, and develop mental health resources.

Advocate and Raise Awareness:

• Social Media Advocacy: Share consumer rights information on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp, post scam alerts protecting others, share success stories showing justice is possible, and tag government accounts demanding action on consumer protection issues.
• Community Leadership: Talk about consumer rights in your housing society meetings, religious gatherings, parent-teacher associations, and local festivals, encourage neighbors to file complaints when cheated, and organize collective responses to common problems with area sellers.
• Media Engagement: Write letters to newspapers about consumer protection issues, call radio programs sharing experiences and information, provide tips to consumer affairs journalists, and participate in television discussions on consumer rights.
• Government Petitions: Sign petitions demanding filling of vacant consumer court positions, stricter enforcement against repeat violators, faster case disposal, and better protection for e-commerce consumers. Contact your Member of Parliament and state legislators about consumer protection priorities.

Transparency and Accountability in Our Work
BRAC operates with complete transparency and strong accountability to donors and beneficiaries.

• Financial Allocation: 85% of all donations go directly to program expenses benefiting consumers including legal aid, victim support services, awareness campaigns, and community education. Only 15% covers essential administrative costs and fundraising to maintain organizational sustainability.
• Regular Reporting: All annual reports, financial statements, program evaluations, and impact assessments are publicly available on our website at brac.in/reports, showing exactly how donations are used and results achieved.
• Independent Audits: BRAC undergoes annual financial audits by independent chartered accountants, program evaluations by external experts, and governance reviews ensuring compliance with all legal and ethical standards.
• Donor Communication: We send regular updates to donors including quarterly newsletters with program highlights, annual impact reports showing outcomes, specific case studies demonstrating real change, and invitations to visit programs and meet beneficiaries.

Tax Benefits for Donors
Your donation to BRAC qualifies for tax benefits under Indian law.

• 80G Deduction: Donations to BRAC qualify for tax deduction under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, reducing your taxable income and tax liability.
• Documentation: We provide official donation receipts within 7 days of receiving contributions, including all information required for claiming tax deductions, via email or post according to your preference.

How to Get Started Today
Taking action is simple and takes just minutes.

• Online Donations: Visit www.brac.in/donate-now to make secure online contributions via credit card, debit card, UPI, or net banking, with instant confirmation and receipt.
• Phone Support: Call +91 7977386674 to speak with our team, ask questions about our work, arrange bank transfers or check donations, and discuss customized giving options.
• Email Contact: Write to partner@brac.in or info@brac.in to learn more about programs, volunteer opportunities, corporate partnerships, and ways to support beyond financial donations.
• Social Media Connection: Follow BRAC on social media to join the movement to end consumer rights violations in India. Our posts provide regular updates on cases won, people helped, awareness campaigns conducted, and opportunities for engagement.

Every consumer deserves to shop with confidence, knowing their rights are protected and violations bring swift justice. Every family deserves protection from fraud that threatens their financial security, health, and dignity. Every seller deserves a level playing field where honesty is rewarded rather than punished. Together, we can build this India. Your support matters. Act today.

8. Frequently Asked Questions About Consumer Rights in India

Q1. What exactly are consumer rights in India?
Consumer rights in India include the right to safety from products and services dangerous to health and life, the right to information about quality, quantity, purity, standard, and price before purchase, the right to choose from different products and services at competitive prices, the right to be heard and represented when consumer interests are being considered, the right to seek compensation for unfair trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation, and the right to consumer education. These rights are protected through the Consumer Protection Act 2019 and enforced through consumer commissions at district, state, and national levels.

Q2. Who qualifies as a consumer under the law?
A consumer is any person who buys goods for consideration, hires or uses services for consideration, or any beneficiary of such goods or services when approved by the buyer. This includes online purchases and digital services. Importantly, purchases for commercial resale or use in production do not qualify as consumer transactions.

Q3. How do I file a consumer complaint in India?
Consumers can file complaints online through the e-Jagriti unified platform launched on January 1, 2025, which integrates all consumer commission filing systems. First, create an account using OTP-based authentication. Then file a complaint against the seller or service provider, attaching all relevant documents including purchase receipts, warranties, correspondence, and photographs. Pay required fees online or offline depending on claim value. Track case progress in real time through the platform. Alternatively, contact the National Consumer Helpline at 1800-11-4000 or 1915 for guidance and assistance.

Q4. Which consumer commission should I approach?
The jurisdiction depends on the claim value. District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions handle complaints where the value of goods or services and compensation claimed does not exceed Rs. 1 crore. State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions handle complaints exceeding Rs. 1 crore but not exceeding Rs. 10 crore, and hear appeals from district commission orders. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission handles complaints exceeding Rs. 10 crore and hears appeals from state commission orders.

Q5. How long does it take to resolve a consumer complaint?
The Consumer Protection Act mandates disposal within three months from receipt of notice where the complaint does not require analysis or testing, and within five months if analysis or testing is required. However, actual resolution times vary significantly across states and commissions. In July 2025, Tamil Nadu achieved 277% disposal rate, deciding cases faster than filing, while other states face significant delays due to vacancies and backlogs. Mediation can resolve disputes much faster, often within weeks rather than months.

Q6. What compensation can I claim in consumer complaints?
Consumers can claim refund of money paid, replacement of defective goods, repair of defects, removal of deficiencies in services, compensation for any loss or injury suffered including mental agony, and costs of litigation. The compensation amount should be proportional to the actual loss suffered and supported by evidence.

Q7. What is the Consumer Protection Act 2019?
The Consumer Protection Act 2019 replaced the Consumer Protection Act 1986, providing comprehensive consumer protection addressing modern challenges like e-commerce, misleading advertisements, and product liability. It establishes the Central Consumer Protection Authority with powers to investigate violations, impose penalties, and take preventive actions. It creates a three-tier consumer disputes redressal system with increased monetary jurisdiction. It introduces product liability provisions holding manufacturers and sellers strictly liable for defects. It includes specific regulations for e-commerce transactions. It provides for mediation as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism.

Q8. What criminal punishment exists for cheating consumers?
Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, which replaced the Indian Penal Code on July 1, 2024, cheating consumers is punishable under Section 318. Basic cheating carries imprisonment up to 3 years, fine, or both. When cheating induces property delivery, punishment increases to imprisonment up to 7 years and fine. Aggravated cheating where the offender knows they will cause wrongful loss to someone whose interests they are bound to protect carries imprisonment up to 5 years, fine, or both. Consumers can file both civil complaints in consumer courts for compensation and criminal complaints under BNS for punishment.

Q9. How can I help prevent consumer rights violations?
Everyone can help protect consumer rights through simple actions. Support organizations like BRAC working on consumer protection through donations or volunteering. Share consumer rights information with family, friends, and neighbors so everyone knows their rights. Report fraudulent sellers and scam websites to authorities and the National Consumer Helpline. File complaints when cheated instead of staying silent, because each complaint creates records that help catch repeat violators. Support honest businesses by choosing quality over lowest price and recommending sellers who treat customers fairly. Teach children and young people about smart shopping, recognizing fraud, and asserting rights. Demand accountability from elected representatives about filling vacant consumer court positions and strengthening enforcement. Your support makes the difference between laws that exist only on paper and rights that are actually protected. Every consumer deserves safety from fraud, fair treatment in markets, and quick justice when cheated. Every honest business deserves protection from unfair competition by fraudsters. Visit www.brac.in/donate-now or call +91 7977386674 to join BRAC’s consumer protection work today. Your contribution funds legal aid for victims, awareness campaigns in communities, monitoring of fraudulent sellers, and advocacy for stronger enforcement. When you donate, volunteer, or speak out, you help transform systems and save families from devastating losses.

Q10. Are there time limits for filing consumer complaints?
Yes, complaints must be filed within two years from the date when the cause of action arose. The cause of action typically arises when the defect becomes apparent, the deficiency in service occurs, or the unfair trade practice is discovered. However, consumer commissions have discretion to condone delays beyond two years if sufficient cause is shown. It is always better to file complaints promptly while evidence is fresh and documents are available.

Remember, your consumer rights are guaranteed by law and enforced by consumer commissions across India. When sellers violate these rights, you have clear legal recourse through complaint processes that are increasingly accessible via online platforms like e-Jagriti. Organizations like BRAC stand ready to support you through every step of asserting your rights, pursuing justice, and recovering from losses. Consumer protection is not just about individual cases but about building an India where markets operate on trust, sellers compete on quality rather than deception, and every person can participate in economic life with dignity and confidence. Together, we build an India where shopping is safe, complaints get quick resolution, compensation is actually paid, and consumer rights mean something real in people’s daily lives. Your support for consumer rights work creates this future for yourself, your family, and millions of others.

Disclaimer
This article is written in simple language to be accessible to a general audience and is not a judicial or formal document. For clarity and to keep it short, we sometimes summarize legal provisions rather than citing them in full. While we have tried to ensure accuracy, this article is for general awareness and education only—not legal advice. If you find any error in this article, please email us at info@brac.in with the exact words or sentences that need correction. We welcome feedback to ensure accuracy. Laws may vary across states and are subject to change; readers should seek qualified legal advice for specific cases. The plans and work presented are based on BRAC’s research-driven proposals and illustrative projections. They do not represent outcomes of current or ongoing programs. This model illustrates the scale of impact that could be achieved with your support and regular donations. Actual results may differ depending on available resources, external conditions, and program execution. With your donation, these projections can move from vision to reality. Donate now by visiting our Donate Now page and choosing the cause that matters most to you.

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