Right to safety
The right to be protected against goods and services that are hazardous to life and property. For food, this overlaps directly with FSSAI's safety standards.
Right to be informed
The right to accurate information about the quality, quantity, purity, standard and price of goods, so you can make an informed choice. Food labelling rules exist to make this possible.
Right to choose
The right to be assured, wherever possible, of access to a variety of goods at competitive prices.
Right to be heard
The right to have your interests given due consideration at appropriate forums, including through consumer protection councils at the central, state and district level.
Right to seek redress
The right to seek redress against unfair trade practices or exploitation, including through the consumer commissions or the CCPA.
Right to consumer awareness
The right to be informed about your rights and responsibilities as a consumer.
How this applies to food
The Act's definition of 'goods' expressly includes 'food' as defined in section 3(1)(j) of the FSS Act, 2006, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs' own FAQ on the 2019 Act. This means a defective, unsafe or misleadingly sold food product is both a food-safety matter (for FSSAI) and a consumer-protection matter (for the consumer commissions and CCPA).
Only someone who buys goods or avails services for consideration, and not for resale or commercial purposes, qualifies as a 'consumer' who can complain under the Act. Buying groceries for your household qualifies; buying in bulk to resell commercially generally does not.
Where to file: consumer commissions
Consumer disputes are heard by three tiers of quasi-judicial Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions: District, State and National. The Department of Consumer Affairs' official FAQ states the pecuniary jurisdiction as: District Commission up to ₹1 crore; State Commission from ₹1 crore up to ₹10 crore; National Commission above ₹10 crore.
A complaint can be filed in a District Commission within the local limits of where the opposite party or the complainant resides or carries on business, or where the cause of action arose.
e-Jagriti, launched on 1 January 2025 by the Department of Consumer Affairs, is now the unified online platform for filing and tracking consumer commission cases; it brought together the earlier e-Daakhil, CONFONET, OCMS and NCDRC-CMS systems into one portal.
Where to file: National Consumer Helpline
The National Consumer Helpline (NCH), run by the Department of Consumer Affairs, lets you register a grievance online, through its app, UMANG, or WhatsApp, and routes it to the concerned company, department or regulator for a response. NCH publishes its own contact numbers on its website; see our Government portals page for the current, verified numbers.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA)
The CCPA was established under the 2019 Act to regulate matters relating to violation of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and false or misleading advertisements that are prejudicial to the interest of the public and consumers as a class. It has an Investigation Wing headed by a Director General, can act on its own initiative (suo motu) or on complaints, and can itself file complaints before the consumer commissions. An order of the CCPA can be appealed to the National Commission within 30 days.
What counts as 'deficiency' and 'misleading advertisement'
'Deficiency' means any fault, imperfection, shortcoming or inadequacy in the quality, nature or manner of performance required by law or undertaken under a contract, including negligence or deliberate withholding of relevant information.
A 'misleading advertisement' falsely describes a product or service, gives a false guarantee, creates a false impression of its nature, substance, quantity or quality, or deliberately conceals important information. Manufacturers, advertising agencies, celebrity endorsers and publishers can all be held liable.