The government has taken this decision to stop companies or businessmen trying to cheat customers or influence their choices through dark patterns. The Central Protection Consumer Authority (CCPA) has issued a guideline in this regard on November 30, named “Guideline for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Pattern”.

What is there in this new guideline?

This guideline is also applicable to all platforms, advertisers and sellers offering goods and services in India. According to the new guidelines, resorting to dark patterns will be a violation of consumer rights. This will be considered as misleading advertising or unfair trade practice. For doing so, fine will be imposed as per the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act.

Statement of Consumer Affairs Secretary

“As e-commerce grows, dark patterns are increasingly being used by platforms to mislead consumers by manipulating their purchasing choices and behaviour,” Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said.

He said the guidelines will bring clarity to all stakeholders – buyers, sellers, markets and regulators on what is wrong in the form of unfair trade practices. Those who violate these will be held responsible under the Consumer Protection Act.

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Now the importer will have to obtain license permission from the government to import these gold products. However, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has clarified that these restrictions will not apply to imports under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The DGFT said in a notification that the policy on import of these products has been revised from ‘free’ to ‘restricted’ with immediate effect. India is the largest importer of gold. The demand of the country’s jewelery industry is met by the import of gold. In terms of quantity, India imports 800-900 tonnes of gold annually.

Import of precious gems decreased

Import of pearls and precious gems decreased by 25.36 percent to $4 billion during April-May period of the current financial year. During this period, the import of gold has also decreased by 40 percent to $ 4.7 billion. It was mainly imported from countries like UAE, Indonesia and USA.

Merchandise imports also decreased

During April-May in the current financial year, total merchandise imports decreased by 10.24 percent to US $ 107 billion. The merchandise trade deficit for April-May 2023 stood at US$ 37.26 billion as against US$ 40.48 billion during April-May 2022.

Import duty on gold increased

Due to global economic uncertainties, India’s gold import has decreased by 24.15 percent to $ 35 billion in 2022-23. In the last financial year i.e. 2021-22, the import of yellow metal was $ 46.2 billion. During the last financial year 2022-23, the export of gems and jewelery decreased by three percent to about $ 38 billion. To curb the current account deficit (CAD), the government last year raised the import duty on gold from 10.75 per cent to 15 per cent.

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