CCPA Cracks Down on E-Commerce Giants over Illegal Walkie-Talkie Sales

India’s consumer watchdog fined major platforms ₹44 lakh for selling unapproved walkie-talkies that violated telecom rules and misled buyers.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has targeted several e-commerce websites for listing and selling unapproved walkie-talkies. The authority has issued final orders against eight entities and imposed fines of ₹44 lakh.

After the CCPA discovered more than 16,970 non-compliant product listings on 13 e-commerce sites, Chimiya, JioMart, Talk Pro, Meesho, MaskMan Toys, TradeIndia, Antriksh Technologies, Vardaanmart, IndiaMart, Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook Marketplace), Flipkart, Krishna Mart and Amazon, notices were sent to these sites. According to the authority, these sales are against telecom regulations and the Consumer Protection Act of 2019.

These platforms permitted the sale of Personal Mobile Radios (PMRs) that operated outside of the license-exempt frequency band, according to the CCPA. Product listings did not adequately reveal licensing requirements and many devices lacked the required Equipment Type Approval (ETA) certification.

According to Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare, the authority fined Meesho, Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook Marketplace), Flipkart and Amazon ₹10 lakh each and Chimiya, JioMart, Talk Pro and MaskMan Toys ₹1 lakh each for violating consumer rights, publishing deceptive advertisements and participating in unfair trade practices. Meesho, Meta, Chimiya, JioMart and Talk Pro have already paid their fines, she continued, but payments from the other platforms are still pending.

Only PMRs operating strictly inside the 446.0–446.2 MHz frequency band are eligible for license exemption under current regulations. Before importing, selling, or using such devices, makers and dealers must receive ETA clearance, according to Rule 5 of the Use of Low Power and Very Low Power Short Range Radio Frequency Devices Rules, 2018.

On Flipkart, 42,275 units were sold with exact frequency information, while 65,931 units were sold with frequency details that were either missing or outside of the allowed range. Between January 2023 and May 2025, 2,602 items were sold on Amazon. Of these, 467 product listings lacked explicit information about certification or frequency.