Click, buy, dispute: comparative analysis of consumer redress mechanisms in e commerce transactions in India and UK

The growth in e-commerce has significantly altered consumer markets in India and the United Kingdom, making goods and services more accessible than ever before with unprecedented convenience. While this digital revolution has helped, it has also contributed significantly to an increase in consumer complaints, from product quality and delayed delivery issues to deceptive business tactics and post-purchase customer care. In this paper, a comparative analysis has been made between consumer redress procedures in e-commerce transactions within India and the UK considering legal, institutional, as well as procedural frameworks governing dispute resolution in these countries. In India, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has brought in radical changes to cater to the digital economy such as, creation of an overarching regulator, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) and filing of complaints electronically through E-Daakhil portal. Despite this progress, hurdles remain such as low digital literacy, infrastructure bottlenecks, and slow case resolution in consumer forums. In contrast, the UK enjoys an established consumer protection environment supported by statutes such as the Consumer Rights Act 2015, projects for enforcement, including the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The focus in the UK on ADR provisions and ODR systems has led to quicker and more accessible resolution for consumers. This article then comparatively evaluates these mechanisms in terms of their effectiveness, access and responsiveness by looking at their strengths and weaknesses under the umbrella of legality and institutions. PTS are delivering an innovative project to help regulators and policymakers in the UK and India respond to two rapidly changing economic sectors; both countries are committed to consumer protection in an evolving digital landscape and the UK has more developed interlinked redress systems, which are maturing in India to meet the growing e-commerce market. It also contributes to the understanding of the role which the private sector could play in reinforcing redress mechanisms by means of cross-border enforcement. It ends by proposing more public-private cooperation and redress standards harmonization and investment in ODR infrastructure to improve the justice and efficiency of consumer grievances processing in both jurisdictions.