New Delhi: Online shopping in India is set for a regulatory change from January 1, 2027, with the government introducing stricter transparency requirements for discounts, search rankings, sponsored listings and consumer grievance mechanisms.
The Centre has amended the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, through the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026. The changes are designed to make online marketplaces more transparent while giving consumers clearer information about prices, product visibility and seller details.
The new framework does not set or control the prices that e-commerce companies and sellers can charge. Instead, it focuses on how prices and product information are presented to consumers.
Online Discounts Will Face Greater Scrutiny
One of the most significant changes concerns advertised discounts.
Under the amended rules, whenever an e-commerce platform or seller announces a price reduction, it will have to display both the reduced price and the prior price.
The prior price will be defined as the lowest price at which the product or service was offered during the 30 days preceding the announcement of the discount.
This could change the way major online sales and promotional campaigns are presented.
For example, if a product was regularly available for ₹1,000 and was temporarily listed at ₹1,500 before being advertised at ₹1,000 as a discount, the new 30-day benchmark would make it more difficult to present the transaction as a major price reduction.
The objective is to give consumers a more reliable reference point when evaluating promotional claims.
Search Rankings Must Become More Transparent
The new rules also address how products and sellers appear in online search results.
E-commerce entities will not be permitted to manipulate search results or search indexes in a way that misleads users or adversely affects the relevance of results to their search queries.
Platforms will also need to provide information about the main parameters that influence the ranking of products or sellers and their relative importance.
This does not mean that marketplaces will be required to show every product in exactly the same order. Instead, the rules focus on greater transparency around the factors influencing product visibility.
For consumers, this could make product discovery more understandable, particularly on platforms where thousands of products compete for visibility.
Sponsored Products Must Be Clearly Identified
Another major change concerns sponsored listings.
E-commerce platforms will have to clearly and prominently identify paid or sponsored product placements.
The distinction is important because consumers may otherwise assume that a product appears at the top of search results because it is the most relevant or popular option.
Under the amended rules, platforms will need to make it easier for shoppers to distinguish advertising from organic search results.
For sellers and marketplaces, this could require changes to advertising interfaces, product-ranking displays and disclosure systems.
Dark Patterns Come Under Greater Focus
The amendments also strengthen requirements relating to dark patterns — design practices that can influence or manipulate consumers into making decisions they may not otherwise have made.
E-commerce entities will be required to comply with the government’s Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023.
Platforms will also have to conduct a yearly self-audit and prominently display a certificate confirming compliance.
The move puts greater responsibility on e-commerce companies to examine how their websites and apps influence consumer behaviour.
More Information About Sellers and Products
The amended rules also increase disclosure requirements for marketplace platforms.
Consumers will receive greater access to information relating to products and sellers, including details such as return and refund policies, warranty information, delivery and payment details, and other relevant product information.
For imported products, platforms will also be required to disclose information including the importer and country of origin.
These disclosures are intended to help consumers make purchasing decisions with more complete information.
Consumer Complaints Get a New Link to the National Consumer Helpline
The new framework also strengthens the connection between e-commerce platforms and the National Consumer Helpline (NCH).
Every e-commerce entity will be required to become a partner in the convergence process of the National Consumer Helpline.
The move comes as online shopping-related complaints represent a significant share of consumer grievances. Government data cited in the amended rules shows that the NCH received 17,71,622 grievances in 2025, of which 5,11,196, or around 29%, were related to e-commerce.
E-commerce entities will also have to provide complainants with a copy of the complaint as recorded by their grievance officer.
What the New Rules Mean for Consumers
For shoppers, the biggest change could be greater visibility into the information behind an online purchase.
Consumers will be able to compare promotional prices against a defined 30-day price benchmark, identify sponsored listings more easily and receive greater information about sellers and products.
The changes could also make it easier to understand why a particular product appears prominently in search results.
However, the rules do not guarantee that consumers will always see the cheapest product first or that every search result will be ranked according to price.
Instead, the focus is on transparency, relevance and disclosure.
What E-Commerce Companies Need to Change
Online marketplaces now have a transition period before the rules become effective on January 1, 2027.
Companies will need to review several areas of their digital platforms, including:
- Discount and pricing systems
- Search-ranking algorithms
- Sponsored-product disclosures
- Seller information
- Product information
- Grievance-redressal systems
- Dark-pattern compliance
- Consumer disclosures
- Imported-product information
Large marketplaces could therefore face substantial technology and compliance work before the new rules take effect.
Impact on Online Sellers
The changes could also affect merchants selling through major marketplaces.
Sellers may need to maintain clearer records of historical pricing because the 30-day prior-price requirement could influence how promotional discounts are displayed.
Businesses may also need to review how sponsored advertising and promotional campaigns are presented to customers.
For smaller sellers, the main challenge could be adapting to new platform-level disclosure and compliance systems.
E-Commerce Enters a More Transparent Phase
India’s online shopping market has expanded rapidly, with consumers increasingly relying on digital platforms for everything from groceries and electronics to clothing and household products.
As the sector grows, the government’s latest rules seek to address some of the challenges created by increasingly complex digital marketplaces.
The changes do not attempt to regulate the prices charged by sellers. Instead, they focus on ensuring that consumers have clearer information about what they are paying, why products appear where they do and whether a particular listing is sponsored.
With the rules taking effect on January 1, 2027, e-commerce companies have several months to modify their systems and compliance processes.
For Indian consumers, the practical impact will become clearer once platforms begin implementing the new disclosures and ranking-related information. The broader direction, however, is clear: India’s e-commerce sector is moving towards greater transparency in pricing, product discovery and digital advertising.
