Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, February 9
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) today passed orders against Naaptol Online Shopping Private Limited (Naaptol) for “indulging in misleading advertisements for promoting its products and unfair trade practices”.
It includes directions to discontinue advertisements of products “set of 2 gold jewellery”, “magnetic knee support” and “acupressure yoga slippers” and a penalty of Rs 10,00,000.
It also asked the company to discontinue practices “which seek to create artificial scarcity of products and prevent consumers from taking informed purchase decision”. The company has been asked to submit a complaint-wise action taken report of complaints registered from May 2021 to January 2022 within 15 days.
According to an official statement, the CCPA initiated a suo-motu case against Naaptol on the basis of made in advertisements of some products claims and methods used by the company to promote the products on its platforms.
For example, in the advertisement of “set of 2 gold jewellery”, CCPA observed that calling the product by such a name could “surely mislead consumers of the actual nature, substance and quality of the product”.
Additionally, the advertisement does not clarify anywhere that the product is not actually made of gold, it stated.
In the advertisement of “magnetic knee support”, the CCPA said the company was unable to furnish any proof to substantiate the claim of “instant pain relief for your knees” made in the advertisement. Likewise, in the case of “accupressure yoga slippers”.
According to the statement, during review it was found that 566 complaints were registered against the company on the NCH during July 2020 to May 2021 and 399 complaints during May 2021 to January 25 wherein grievances of low quality, spurious products, product different from that depicted on TV/Website were the prime concerns of consumers.
The CCPA has ordered the company to provide a complaint-wise action taken report on the complaints.
The company was also observed to be “using unfair methods to promote the products. Claims such as ‘available only for today’ were made giving an impression that the shows are live thereby prompting consumers to make an immediate decision of purchase”, it said.