The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has launched a major crackdown on the sale of unsafe, non-certified products through leading e-commerce platforms, including Amazon and Flipkart. In a series of search and seizure operations, BIS raided warehouses in Lucknow, Gurugram, and Delhi, confiscating thousands of products that lacked mandatory BIS certification.
Massive Seizures and Legal Action
During a recent raid at an Amazon warehouse in Lucknow, BIS seized 215 toys and 24 hand blenders without proper certification. Earlier, in February 2025, a similar operation at Amazon’s Gurugram warehouse resulted in the seizure of aluminium foils, metallic water bottles, toys, kitchen appliances, and electrical goods, all found to be non-certified.
A raid at a Flipkart warehouse in Gurugram revealed more non-compliant products, including 534 stainless steel bottles, 134 toys, and 41 speakers. BIS traced many of these unauthorized items to Techvision International Pvt Ltd, leading to further raids in Delhi, where over 11,000 uncertified electronic appliances were seized.
BIS has initiated legal proceedings under the BIS Act, 2016, with penalties ranging from ₹2 lakh to ten times the value of the goods and potential imprisonment of up to two years for offenders.
The Growing Concern Over Non-Certified Products
The Central Government has made BIS certification mandatory for a range of consumer goods, including pressure cookers, electrical appliances, PVC cables, toys, helmets, and food packaging materials. Despite this, BIS has identified numerous non-certified products being sold on Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Myntra, and BigBasket—some lacking ISI marks, while others display fake certification numbers.
These substandard products pose serious safety risks to consumers, as they do not undergo third-party testing to verify compliance with safety and performance standards. BIS has now issued notices to all e-commerce platforms, directing them to ensure that only BIS-certified products are listed for sale.
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Strengthening Consumer Protection in Online Retail
As unsafe products flood the market, the Bureau of Indian Standards is ramping up its market surveillance efforts, purchasing and testing various consumer goods to ensure compliance. The recent large-scale seizures underscore the need for stricter due diligence by e-commerce platforms to prevent the sale of non-compliant goods.
With legal actions in motion, the government is sending a strong message to online retailers: product safety and consumer protection cannot be ignored.
