Consumer Protection in the E-Commerce Era

In the business system consumers are vital components. The consumers are persons who use the goods and services offered by the business players. The protection of the rights of the consumers is also important for a betterment of the commercial world. With the advancement of the technology there was a transition from physical commerce to E-Commerce often known as online commerce also. The e-commercial activities have become the most important and happening activities which is taking place in the cyberspace. The e-commerce platform had enabled the Indian consumers to cross the boundaries of states and enjoy the products of their choice. The increasing number of activities taking place in the e commerce alarms about the protection of online consumers and their interests. The law sometimes becomes stagnant without providing remedies for the consumers. There are various issues related to the e-commerce such as problem of data protection, jurisdictional issues of disputes, misleading advertisement etc. The development of electronic commerce raises challenges for the protection of consumer rights. The object of this paper is to analyse the available Indian consumer laws such as Consumer Protection Act, 1986, Information Technology Act 2000 and other related laws if any. The paper critically studies the proposed Consumer Protection Bill 2015 and how the Bill attempts to protect the consumers of cyberspace