Amazon fined ₹1 lakh for selling ordinary sweets as ‘Ram Mandir Prasad’

Amazon Seller Services Private Limited has been fined Rs 1 lakh by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) for allowing ordinary sweets to be listed and sold on its platform as “Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad” without authorisation from the Ram Temple Trust.

The penalty follows a complaint filed by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in January 2024 over the listings.

CCPA flags misleading ‘Prasad’ listing

The CCPA said consumers could naturally understand a product labelled “Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad” to mean that the sweets had been offered to and blessed by the deity at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

The authority held that using the phrase to market ordinary confectionery without approval from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust amounted to a misleading trade practice.

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“The commercial appropriation of this phrase for ordinary confectionery products, without any authorisation from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, constitutes not just a misleading trade practice under the CP Act but an affront to the religious sentiments of crores of consumers,” the order said.

The penalty was imposed by CCPA Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra in an order dated August 4. Amazon has been directed to deposit the ₹1 lakh penalty within 15 days.

Four varieties of sweets listed

The complaint concerned four varieties of sweets listed on Amazon by Chandu Trading Company under the brand Bihar Brothers.

The products included ghee ladoos, khoya ladoos, boondi ladoos and cow milk pedas.

The CCPA also held Amazon responsible for the publication of the advertisements. According to the authority, the e-commerce platform hosted and displayed the listings and facilitated the sale of the products.

Amazon denied safe harbour protection

The authority said Amazon could not claim safe harbour protection available to intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act (IT Act).

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The CCPA's order therefore placed responsibility on Amazon for its role in hosting and facilitating the sale of products that were allegedly marketed in a misleading manner.

The action comes amid scrutiny of online product descriptions and advertisements where claims could influence consumers' understanding of what they are purchasing.