India is a growing country with a budding ecommerce market and the government would like to trust the companies to respect consumer rights on their own, says Nidhi Khare, secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs. That trust, though, has limits and action will be taken when it is violated. In an interview with Forbes India, Khare argues that fines for dark patterns are kept modest because higher penalties only push companies into long court battles, slowing down real action. Even so, she’s keeping a close eye on how platforms behave. Her attention is also turning to influencers, especially those offering financial or health advice without the expertise to back it up. Edited excerpts.
Q. It has been two months since GST 2.0 was implemented. Initially, there were some issues with GST cuts not being passed on. How is it going now?
When this transition happened, consumer complaints were very high on the first day. But when we started analysing, we found out that a lot of these complaints were basically inquiries. A complaint that prominently figured was, why hasn’t milk become cheaper? But milk was never under GST. So, a lot of people were just curious.
In collaboration with the Department of Revenue and CBIC, our call agents were able to satisfactorily answer many of these queries. In a week, the GST-related complaints started falling.
Q. So, you’re happy with the implementation?
Yes. Before September 22 [when the reduced GST rates were rolled out], we held at least two rounds of meetings with all the e-commerce entities, major retailers and FMCG companies. We told them: You have to announce the cuts and inform the consumers because that is one of the major consumer rights. The right to be informed is actually the first consumer right.
It was a collaborative effort. There was an environment of trust. We trusted the companies to pass on the benefits to the consumers. And companies ensured the consumer right is respected.
Q. The goal of the GST cuts was to ramp up consumption. Is that happening?
If you look at the auto sector, consumers looked at the GST cuts as a massive gain and sales have been blockbuster since. Cuts were also timed to roll out at the start of the Navratri, which is a good time to buy things. Now the wedding season has started [so it should continue]. The cuts were timely.
Also Read: Click, buy, regret: The dark patterns within online platforms
Q. Festive season tends to see a rise in dark pattern-related consumer complaints. What’s being done to curb that? Companies were told to submit self-audits, what’s the progress there?
We came out with the guidelines for prevention of dark patterns where we said it’ll be treated as an unfair trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act because not only are you misinforming the consumer about the product or service, you are also trying to manipulate their choice.
Then in May, we called a meeting of all the prominent ecommerce platforms, since dark patterns are usually online. We told them we don’t want to take the role of an inspector, so you audit yourself and submit reports. In May, we gave the companies’ three months to self-audit their websites, their apps, their user interface and they have complied. Almost all the big companies have submitted self-audits, about 26 to 29 of them.
We have issued notices in, I think, 25 cases. Notices have gone out for false urgency, forced action, basket sneaking, nagging, confirm shaming, drip pricing, and for the deceptive renewal of [Amazon] Prime membership. One order is actually out in the case of FirstCry.
Q. Which period were these notices issued in? Since 2023?
We started issuing notices from last year, I believe. IndiGo is one example. They were issued notices for deploying dark patterns in the seat selection process. They then changed their policy after that.
Q. What happens after the submission of self-audits?
We will keep a watch on consumer complaints on dark patterns. If we find that some dark patterns are still being used even after the self-audits, we will take action as per law. We had given them a certain amount of time so they could themselves identify which are the dark patterns present on their platforms. This was done so that they do not come to us later, saying they did not know something was a dark pattern.
Q. If you find out that dark patterns still exist, when can we start seeing some crackdown?
As I said, we have already issued notices. Last year, we identified some cases. There was a big order on Rapido [it was fined Rs 10 lakh for misleading ads]. If you claim that a consumer will get a refund and they book your service basis that claim, but later get to know that it is in the form of ‘Rapido Coins’ which anyway have to be redeemed within seven days… that’s a clear dark pattern.
It’s another thing that Rapido has appealed against the order. But it hasn’t challenged it on the merits of the case. So, what you’re calling a “crackdown” has already started.
Q. There’s an argument that the fines in India are not big enough to deter companies from deploying dark patterns. Globally, penalties have been much higher. Are there any such discussions in India to raise the fines?
Look, we’re a country which is still growing, and we would like to trust the companies that they would respect consumer rights and ensure they are protected. However, we are vigilant about their actions and if consumers are getting impacted as a class, we will certainly take action. And we have taken action. You’re talking about fines—we have imposed the highest fine possible.
The quantum of fine is debatable. In my opinion, if the fines are too high, that also increases the chances of the order being challenged. Right now, our goal is to make the companies understand that they must respect consumer rights.
Q. We encounter a lot of fake products online. Is anything being done to curb that?
If a brand has a trademark which is being abused, that is an issue taken care of by the commerce ministry or DPIIT. But if consumers write to us, we will take action.
Q. What is your view on the lack of transparency by finfluencers and health influencers?
It’s true that many influencers are doling out advice on topics where they are not experts. This issue is under examination. We will definitely take cognizance of things just like Sebi [Securities and Exchange Board of India] has done.
First Published: Nov 27, 2025, 12:41
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