Billion dollar ecommerce firm IndiaMART called out for selling fake goods

• The US Trade Representative has called out e-commerce website IndiaMART for selling ‘counterfeit goods’ on its platform.
• The issue of fake products is not very surprising, as in the past India’s drug regulator had issued notices to e-commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart and IndiaMART for the same.
• IndiaMART’s stock has also disappointed investors by not rewarding any returns in the last one year.

It is not everyday that an Indian multi-billion dollar e-commerce platform gets openly accused of selling ‘counterfeit goods’ on its platform, that too by the US Trade Representative (USTR). But it just happened with IndiaMART.

IndiaMART, a publicly listed e-commerce website and mobile app that connects buyers with suppliers, describes itself as the world's second largest online business-to-business market.

The US Trade Representative on Thursday came out with a report ‘2021 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy’ in which it identified 42 online and 35 physical markets around the world that offer counterfeiting products or copyright piracy.

The report called out four offline Indian markets too -- Heera Panna in Mumbai, Kidderpore in Kolkata, Tank Road in Delhi and Palika Bazaar in Delhi.

It is said that duplicate goods can allegedly be found in large volumes on IndiaMART, including counterfeit pharmaceuticals, electronics, and apparel.

However, this is not a shocking allegation for the company as in the past India’s drug regulator has issued notices to e-commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart and IndiaMART for selling counterfeit products.

Apparently, IndiaMART has a notice-and-takedown system, but users say that it is burdensome to use and the process to remove the product is slow, as per the USTR report. “The status of notices is not transparently communicated to right holders,” said the report.

Business Insider has sent an email to IndiaMART seeking comments on the report, but did not elicit any response till the time of publication.

Meanwhile, the company’s stock has also disappointed investors by not giving any returns in the last one year as the stock slumped 44%.

In the latest October to December quarter, the company reported a 12% year-on-year decline in its net profit at ₹702 crore.

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