CCPA fines e-commerce giants ₹44L for illegal walkie-talkie sales
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) just hit Meesho, Flipkart, Amazon, and Meta with fines of ₹10 lakh each (₹40 lakh in total for those four), while four other entities — Chimiya, JioMart, Talk Pro and MaskMan Toys — were fined ₹1 lakh each, bringing the overall penalties to ₹44 lakh for selling walkie-talkies without proper government approval.
Turns out, these platforms hosted listings that lacked mandatory disclosures about Department of Telecommunications (DoT) Equipment Type Approval (ETA) and operating frequency for numerous products, and some devices were sold without requisite statutory approvals.
What's the big deal with these walkie-talkies?
In India, only certain walkie-talkie frequencies are license-free—others need official clearance because they can mess with law enforcement networks.
The CCPA said these sites failed to warn buyers about which devices needed licenses or approvals.
Now, new rules mean online sellers have to clearly share this info and pull down any non-compliant listings fast.
So if you're shopping tech gadgets online, it's worth double-checking what's allowed!