Government tells Swiggy, Zomato to improve complaint redressal efforts

The government has asked online food businesses such as Zomato and Swiggy to submit proposals within 15 days on how they plan to improve their customer complaint redressal efforts. The Department of Consumer Affairs and secretary Rohit Kumar Singh are behind the push for this change.

In a statement seen by PTI, the Department said, "The Department of Consumer Affairs has directed major ecommerce Food Business Operators (FBOs) to furnish the current framework as well as a proposal on improving the consumer grievance redressal mechanism within 15 days."

This new direction was given in a meeting chaired by Singh on the pertinent issues faced by consumers regarding online food purchases. The meeting was held with representatives from major food business operators.

In particular, the statement singled out Swiggy and Zomato for the thousands of customer complaints the government has received about them in the last 12 months.

"During the last 12 months, over 3,631 grievances have been registered on the National Consumer Helpline (1915) for Swiggy, and 2,828 have been registered for Zomato," the statement said.