India gives e-commerce platforms until 1 January to show real discounts

The Department of Consumer Affairs has notified the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026. They take effect on 1 January 2027. The text changes how platforms display discounts, handle complaints, label imports and police dark patterns. It applies to marketplace and inventory sellers that Indian buyers already use every day.

When a seller announces a price cut, the platform must show the reduced price next to the prior price. Prior price is defined as the lowest price at which that good or service was offered in the 30 days before the announcement. The rule is aimed at the fake-slash habit in which a product is listed at an inflated figure for a day so that a 50 percent off tag can be printed. Marketplace executives told Mint the 30-day test is hard to run when independent sellers change prices several times a week. The department's answer is in the gazette, not in the interview.

Complaints get a clock. Every entity must name a grievance officer, publish a legal name, headquarters and branch addresses, website details, and customer-care phone and email. The officer must acknowledge a complaint within 48 hours, share a copy of the recorded complaint with the buyer, and close the case within one month. In 2025 the National Consumer Helpline logged 1,771,622 grievances. Of those, 511,196, about 29 percent, were e-commerce cases.

Imported goods must carry the importer's details and the country of origin. Platforms must not collect bundled fees for services unrelated to the marketplace, with a stated exception for loyalty or membership programmes. Consumer data cannot be used for specified purposes, including private-label promotion, without express and affirmative consent. Search rankings and product display rules require platforms to make sponsored results identifiable.

Dark patterns sit under a yearly audit. Each platform must comply with the 2023 Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, run an annual self-audit, and display a certificate that the site is free of those designs. The certificate is a public claim. A later enforcement action that finds a disguised subscription or a trick basket will sit next to that claim.

Ashim Sanyal, managing trustee of Consumer VOICE, said buyers should be able to see whether a price is genuinely reduced, whether a listing is sponsored and what they are buying before they pay. A Boston Consulting Group note from February 2026 put the Indian e-commerce market at about $140 billion now and as high as $300 billion by 2030. The rules are written for that larger market, not for the present one.

Ranking rules will be the other expensive line. If a platform promotes its own private label or a paid seller in the first screen of results, the buyer has to be able to see that the slot was bought. The 2020 rules already spoke about transparency. The 2026 text adds audits, certificates and a one-month close-out. That combination turns a design choice into a record that can be produced in court.

Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato and the rest have until New Year's Day to rebuild price histories, grievance queues and audit trails. Platforms that treat the 30-day lowest price as a software problem will spend the autumn on logs. Platforms that treat it as a merchandising problem will have to stop listing goods at prices that never existed. The department has given them three and a half months. After 1 January the one-month complaint clock starts for the buyer, not for the company.