e-Commerce Disclosures

The Department of Consumer Affairs has notified the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026, amending the 2020 rules, with effect from January 1, 2027. The changes touch nearly every consumer-facing layer of an online marketplace — search rankings, discounts, seller disclosures, dark patterns and how platforms use the data they collect — and mark the most substantial revision of India’s e-commerce rulebook since 2020.

Ranking and search get a tighter definition

The amendment redefines “ranking” to cover the relative prominence given to sellers, goods or services on a platform, however that ranking is technologically achieved. Entities are now explicitly barred from manipulating search results or indexes in ways that mislead users on their query. Platforms must also publish, in plain language and in descending order of importance, the main parameters that decide how products or sellers