Amazon Fined Rs 1 Lakh For Selling Ordinary Sweets As "Ram Mandir Prasad"

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a Rs 1 lakh penalty on Amazon Seller Services, the marketplace arm of e-commerce major Amazon, for hosting misleading listings that sold ordinary sweets as "Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad".

A two-member bench of the central consumer regulator found that Amazon, on its e-commerce platform, was allowing ordinary sweets to be sold as "Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad" without any authorisation from the Ram Mandir Trust.

"The CCPA hereby imposes a penalty of Rs 1,00,000/- on the opposite party (Amazon Seller) for publication of misleading advertisements on its platform," in violation of rules of the E-Commerce Rules, 2020, said the order passed by the CCPA on August 4, 2026.

It had directed the Amazon Seller Services to ensure that "no product falsely claiming to be 'prasad', 'prasadam', 'mahaprasad', 'bhog' or any similarreligious offering" associated with any religious institutions and shrines named in of this order "is listed, hosted, advertised, exhibited, or offered for sale on its platform without verifiable documentary proof of authorization from the concerned institution".

Amazon has submitted a framework of ten major religious institutions and shrines, including Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Shri Jagannath Temple, Shri Kedarnath Temple, Shri Badrinath Temple, Shri Somnath Temple, Shri Dwarkadhish Temple and Shri Mahakaleshwar Temple.

CCPA, in its 19-page order, observed that the phrase "Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad" carries a specific and well-understood meaning for Hindu devotees, where it denotes sacred food offered to and blessed by the deity at the Ram Mandir, Ayodhya.

"The commercial appropriation of this phrase for ordinary confectionery products, without any authorisation from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, constitutes not just a misleading trade practice under the CP Act but an affront to the religious sentiments of crores of consumers," it said.

Amazon's e-com platform, by reason of its scale and reach, lent an inherent imprimatur of legitimacy to such listings in the eyes of an average consumer, amplifying the harm caused manifold.

CCPA direction came over a complaint filed by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on January 19, 2024.

The top traders' body alleged that four sweet products - listed by it- were being sold on Amazon.in as "Sri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad", priced between Rs 299 and Rs 385.

The CCPA issued a Show Cause Notice to Amazon the same day, just three days before the historic Pran Pratishtha consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir on January 22, 2024, citing violations of the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 and the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

Amazon took down the listings only after receiving the notice and argued it was merely an intermediary entitled to safe harbour protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, citing the Supreme Court's ruling in Shreya Singhal v Union of India.

The Authority rejected this defence, holding that the E-Commerce Rules and the IT Act "operate on distinct legal planes" and that Amazon's statutory consumer protection obligations - including seller disclosure and due diligence - could not be discharged through its intermediary status or delegated to third-party sellers via contractual agreements.

A detailed investigation by the Director General (Investigation), the CCPA found that Amazon had not adequately displayed seller details on its platform as mandated under the E-Commerce Rules, and that its grievance redressal mechanism required mandatory login, falling short of the requirement for clear and accessible disclosure.

The impugned listings generated Gross Merchandise Sales of Rs 25,26,309, with actual revenue from the four products at Rs 39,802.29, of which Amazon earned Rs 15,165.90 as service fee, the order noted.

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