Govt to unveil website for better after-sales service to ensure quality products

Indian consumers will soon get details of after-sales service on their cars, handsets, home appliances and electronics online, on a government portal being launched to push companies to ensure quality product service.

Consumer goods, car and handset manufacturers, among others, will have to mandatorily give an after-sales service declaration on the website, with details including a timeline for service, whereabouts of service centres and availability of spare parts, a senior official said.

For instance, when a multinational carmaker launches a model in India, it will have to declare for how long it will provide after-sales support and make spare parts available in the country even if it winds up operations here, said the official from the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA). The website is expected to come up in the next few weeks.

"The sectors identified include farming equipment, mobile phones and tablets, consumer durables, automobiles and automobile equipment," said the official, who requested not to be named.

Companies must also upload self-repair manuals on the portal, to be managed by DoCA, with help from firms that will be able to upload relevant information.

Protecting Customer Rights
The move is a part of the government's initiative to develop a comprehensive framework, known as the 'Right to Repair', for safeguarding consumers' rights to get products repaired and serviced, the official said. Monopoly on repair processes infringes the customer's "right to choose," the person said.

A government-appointed committee working on the framework has pointed to practices such as planned obsolescence and creation of monopolies on spare parts while stressing on the need to give consumers the right to choose how they get products fixed, the official said.

The committee also flagged how consumers often lose the right to claim a warranty if they get a product repaired from a "non-recognised" outfit.

The government had earlier said manufacturers are encouraging a culture of 'planned obsolescence,' a system whereby the design of any gadget is such that it lasts a particular time only, after which it has to be mandatorily replaced. "When contracts fail to cede full control to the buyer, the legal rights of owners are damaged," DoCA had said in a statement earlier.