Raids on Amazon and Flipkart Warehouses Continue in India
India’s state-backed product certification agency conducted raids on Amazon and Flipkart warehouses in Delhi this month. Products that did not comply with quality control standards were seized.
Amazon, based in the US, and Flipkart, acquired by Walmart last year, are dominant players in the Indian e-commerce market. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has increased its inspections of Amazon and Flipkart. Last week, raids were carried out at warehouses in Tamil Nadu, where products that did not meet standards were found to be sold and displayed.
Pressure Mounts on Amazon and Flipkart!
In Amazon’s Delhi warehouses, products such as water heaters and kitchen mixers worth $81,500 were seized. The confiscated products either lacked the standard quality control mark or had counterfeit labels, the agency stated in its announcement.
From Flipkart’s units, approximately $7,000 worth of sneakers, lacking the required product certification marks but ready for shipment, were confiscated. Around 600 pairs of sneakers were seized in this raid.
BIS Conducting Regular Raids on Warehouses
In the past month, BIS has carried out similar raids in various regions of the country, including Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Lucknow, and Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, seizing numerous substandard products.
Both Amazon and Flipkart announced that they comply with local regulations. Flipkart did not make any statement regarding the Delhi raids. Amazon’s spokesperson in India stated that the company is working closely with various stakeholders and regulators.
Currently, 769 products in India are required to have mandatory certification. The production, import, distribution, sale, leasing, storage, or display (for sale) of these products is prohibited without a valid license or Compliance Certificate (CoC) from BIS.