e-commerce
CAIT demands 7-day ban on Amazon for not indicating country of origin
NEW DELHI: Expressing dissatisfaction with the Rs 25,000 penalty levied on Amazon India by the ministry of consumer affairs, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has demanded a seven-day ban on the e-commerce giant for not providing the mandatory details of 'country of origin' on the products sold on the platform.
For the record, the ministry of consumer affairs last month sent a notice directing e-commerce portals to clearly display country of origin on products listed on their websites. However, Amazon and Flipkart were found to be non-compliant, and the former was fined Rs 25,000 for it.
CAIT has said that the fundamental of levying the fine is to make offenders realise their fault so they do not commit the same offence again.
“However, the paltry monetary penalty has no significance at all and it is demanded that a seven-day ban on Amazon and other big ecommerce companies who are continuously offending the law and policies, should be imposed on them… Let there be an exemplary punishment," CAIT wrote in a statement.
CAIT national president BC Bhartia and secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said that imposing such a small fine on a foreign e-commerce giant for violating Indian law is nothing but a mockery of our judicial and administrative system.
"The punishment should be equal to the damage caused by them on our economy and it should have reflected a clear message to the foreign e-commerce players," they said.
Bhartia and Khandelwal added that in the wake of the magnitude of e-commerce business in India and PM Narendra Modi’s call for ‘vocal for local’ and Atmanirbhar Bharat, the description of the country of origin is now mandatory and for disobeying this law for the first time, the relevant ecommerce portal should be banned for seven days, for second offence, it should be banned for 15 days and for third offence, the portal should be banned till the time it complies fully with the law.
They insisted that a fine or penalty should always be exemplary and be in proportion to the offence committed. Having this yardstick as the barometer, the fine of a token amount of Rs 25,000 is more like compromising with the law.
Further, they claimed that there is some vested interest behind the continuous violation of the Indian law by these ecommerce companies and hence, the fine imposed needs to be steep.
"Law should be equal for everybody and other ecommerce players (Flipkart, Myntra) should also face the heat for flouting rules. We are unable to understand why they were not fined. Such an indecisive attitude of the authorities towards the foreign e-commerce players is quite unreasonable," they added.
e-commerce
Instamart and Duolingo launch street spell check campaign for Instaprint
Duo the owl fixes signboard typos across cities to showcase instant printing.
MUMBAI: If spelling mistakes had a sworn enemy, it might just be a bright green owl with a printer. Instamart has teamed up with language learning platform Duolingo for a quirky nationwide campaign that turns everyday spelling errors into a public spectacle while promoting its instant printing service, InstaPrint. The playful activation takes aim at the many misspelled shop boards and public signs scattered across Indian streets. From “saloons” that promise haircuts rather than drinks to menus and posters peppered with punctuation mishaps, the campaign sends Duolingo’s mascot Duo on a mission to restore linguistic order.
Armed with Instamart’s instant printing feature, Duo prints corrected versions of the mistakes on the spot and pastes them over the originals. The result is a series of humorous street interventions that have quickly begun circulating on social media.
Photos and videos of the grammar correcting owl have been widely shared online, with amused users reacting to the unexpected spell check patrol. One user joked, “Ab ayega na maza bhidu,” capturing the internet’s delight at the unusual campaign.
Behind the humour lies a practical message. The activation is designed to showcase the capabilities of Instaprint, Instamart’s printing service that allows users to print documents and posters almost instantly.
The company says the feature is meant for everyday needs such as printing resumes, visa documents or last minute posters without the usual scramble to locate a print shop.
Instamart introduced Instaprint in 2025 across select metropolitan cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. The service allows users to order printed materials directly through the platform, extending the quick commerce model beyond groceries and household essentials.
By combining Duolingo’s famously persistent owl with India’s street level spelling quirks, the campaign taps into the internet’s long running fascination with grammar mistakes while demonstrating a real world use case for instant printing.
After all, in a world full of typos, sometimes what you really need is a quick printer and a very determined language teacher.
