96% of Indians dissatisfied with e-commerce labelling laws

LocalCircles, a “platform for citizen engagement​”, found that 96% of the 10,000 consumers who voted in its poll wanted e-commerce retailers to outline the manufacture and expiry dates of their foods.

Though it is hard to be surprised by the survey’s results, whereby it is natural for consumers to call for greater safeguards on food, the poll has brought to wider attention the limitations of e-commerce laws. LocalCircles said it would pursue the issue with Indian food-safety authorities.

"We will be taking up this issue shortly with the [Indian regulator] and the Department of Consumer Affairs, requesting them to take immediate action on this matter so all e-commerce sites and their sellers of packaged foods comply with this ask by the consumers​," the online group said in a statement.

In its analysis, LocalCircles claimed the results stemmed from poor standards employed by a number of e-commerce vendors, adding that many customers reported buying goods were close to the end of their shelf-life.

Adding dates and MRP would bring online food purchases in line with conventional retailers, and would serve to increase trust in the channel, it added.