Consumer Protection in India: Revisiting Indic Thought Through Contemporary Consumer Law

Abstract

Purpose: The legal framework for consumer protection in India has grown into an extensive framework that deals with consumer rights, unfair trade practices, false advertising, product liability, and the new challenges from the digital marketplace. However, the enforcement mechanism is based only on the legal rights of the consumers, while the ethical aspect of business is not much highlighted. The current research seeks to discover if the principles based on Indian philosophy can serve as the normative foundation for the enhancement of consumer protection in India today.

Methodology: This research is based on the qualitative-legal-comparative approach and examines the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 as well as the related regulatory mechanisms and consumer protection literature. The research attempts to analyse some of the selected Indic sources, including Kautilya’s Arthashastra, Manusmriti, and Dharmashastra. The focus of the analysis is on the ethical aspects of commerce, accountability, market regulation, prevention of exploitation, and public benefit.

Scope of the study: The research compares certain principles of Indic thought with modern-day Indian consumer legislation to establish similarities between them while highlighting the fact that the ancient normative traditions differ from modern statutory law both historically and institutionally.

Originality/Value: The research proposes an IKS-based conceptual model where ethical accountability serves as an addition to consumer legislative frameworks. The model focuses on preventative consumer protection that is achieved through ethical commercial practices, active regulation, consumer education, and a pro-social approach, especially in the context of electronic commerce.

Theory: The research is based on such normative principles of ethical commerce as responsibility and accountability as well as public welfare and market regulation. It does not treat ancient Indic concepts as direct analogues of contemporary consumer law; instead, it sees them as a normative resource that could boost responsible commercial governance.

Paper type: Conceptual Research.