The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has intensified its crackdown on e-commerce firms selling substandard and non-compliant products, conducting search and seizure operations at multiple warehouses across the country.

On March 19, a 15-hour raid at the Amazon Sellers warehouse in Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area, Delhi, led to the seizure of over 3,500 products, including geysers, food mixers, and other electrical appliances, either lacking the ISI mark or bearing counterfeit ISI labels. The estimated value of the seized goods is Rs 7 million.

In another raid at Instakart Services Pvt Ltd, a Flipkart subsidiary in Trinagar, Delhi, 590 pairs of sports footwear—lacking the ISI mark and date of manufacture—were confiscated, amounting to Rs 0.6 millionin value.

Nationwide Efforts to Enforce Quality Standards Over the past month, BIS teams have carried out similar operations in Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Lucknow, and Sriperumbudur, seizing various substandard products. These raids align with BIS' mission to ensure compliance with India's quality control standards and protect consumers from unsafe products.

Currently, 769 products require mandatory BIS certification as per Government of India regulations. It is illegal to manufacture, import, distribute, sell, hire, lease, store, or exhibit these products without a valid BIS license or Certificate of Compliance (CoC).

Legal Consequences for Non-Compliance Violations of Quality Control Orders (QCOs) attract strict legal action under Section 29(3) of the BIS Act, 2016, which prescribes imprisonment, a fine, or both for offenders.