The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), the country’s top consumer watchdog, has slapped a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on ride-hailing service Rapido for misleading and unfair trade practices.
CCPA, headed by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare, had taken suo motu cognisance of Rapido’s two ad campaigns — ‘Guaranteed Auto’ and ‘AUTO IN 5 MIN OR GET ₹ 50’, and found they were “misleading” and asked the ride-hailing service to discontinue them immediately.
CCPA issued these directions under various sections of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
“It may be noted that Rapido offers its services in over 120 cities, and the impugned advertisement ran for at least 548 days (approximately 1.5 years), being propagated in multiple regional languages across the country. Therefore, the CCPA finds it necessary to impose a penalty to safeguard the interests of consumers,” the CCPA order, issued Wednesday (August 20), said.
“Discontinue the misleading advertisement with immediate effect. In light of the nature of the violations detailed in the foregoing paragraphs, it is necessary that the opposite party [Rapido] is directed to pay a penalty of Rs 10,00,000 for publishing misleading advertisement and unfair trade practice.”
“The opposite party shall ensure that any consumer who availed the “AUTO IN 5 MIN OR GET ₹ 50″ offer and did not receive the promised Rs 50 compensation shall be reimbursed the said amount in full without any further delay or condition,” CCPA said.
CCPA said 575 consumer complaints were registered against Rapido on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) between April 2023 and May 2024. These complaints were related to deficiencies in services, non-refund of paid amounts, overcharging, failure to provide promised services, and non-return of money. According to the CCPA, Rapido had “not made any efforts to resolve these grievances on the NCH platform despite being regularly shared with them.”
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“The conduct of the opposite party leaves no doubt in the minds of CCPA regarding the apathetic attitude of the opposite party towards consumer rights and consumer interest. Despite abundant opportunities provided under sections 20 & 21 of the Act, the opposite party failed miserably to negate the findings of DG (inv),” the watchdog said in order.
“Therefore, CCPA is satisfied that the opposite party has engaged in unfair trade practice, false or misleading advertisement as envisaged under the Act and therefore, CCPA is of the opinion that it is necessary to impose a penalty in consumer interest in addition to the other consequences,” it said.
A Rapido official did not respond to calls and messages.
