So that you are not fleeced

Pushpa Girimaji

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A video of three women in a supermarket in Sydney fiercely fighting over a packet of toilet paper went viral on social media earlier this month, highlighting the tough times we are in.

Usually, a video like that would have elicited some laughs, but not in these times of global coronavirus pandemic. The video was, in fact, a reflection of the fear psychosis that has gripped consumers the world over, often leading to panic buying. India is no exception. What makes matters worse is hoarding and price gouging of essential commodities, particularly sanitisers and face masks by those out to exploit the situation and make a fast buck.

We are bombarded day in and day out with advisories, advertisements, telling us to maintain hand hygiene through regular washing of hands with soap (rub for 20 seconds) and water and where that is not available, with alcohol-based sanitisers. Here again, there are specifications. The sanitiser should have at least 60 per cent alcohol, you should use 2-3 ml of it to cover your hand properly, rub it and let it dry on the hand and not wipe it off, for it to be effective.

But where is the sanitiser? Ever since the Covid-19 panic began in India, they have disappeared from shop shelves. While some amount of shortage could be due to increased consumer demand, most of it is created by those hoarding them and selling them at exorbitant prices — both online and offline. There have been a number of consumer complaints of sanitisers being sold at 10-16 times their maximum retail price (MRP). In many cases, the original prices had been erased and new prices had been superimposed on them! Selling at prices above the MRP or changing the price to a higher MRP are both clear violations of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, but such violations are rampant.

But shortages and price gouging are not the only problem consumers are facing. Even bigger issue is that of fake sanitisers that give consumers a false sense of protection. In fact, they are likely to give you several infections, if you see the unhygienic conditions in which they are being made. The extent of production of such ‘sanitisers’ can be gauged from the fact that drug control authorities have raided in recent weeks, a number of such illegal, unlicensed units in a number of cities including Mumbai, Pune, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Srinagar and Nagpur.

Today, Indian consumers are in an unenviable position vis-à-vis sanitisers. Besides shortages caused by hoarding and price gouging, they have the difficult task of choosing a sanitiser that works and in the absence of mandatory third-party certification. More so because the known, trusted brands have disappeared from the markets and what is available are sanitisers of unknown brands and efficacy. And they are not cheap.

Earlier, a 50 ml bottle of a well known brand of sanitiser cost anywhere between Rs 55-69. But now, the same quantity of products from unknown brands carries an MRP that is twice or thrice that amount! Consumers have also faced similar problems with face masks.

As consumer complaints about shortages and price gouging reached a crescendo, government invoked, on March 13, the Essential Commodities Act and the Disaster Management Act to prevent hoarding, black marketing and sale of sub-standard hand sanitisers, face masks and gloves and armed state governments with sufficient powers to regulate the production, distribution, price and quality of these products. Under the Essential Commodities Act, punishment for violation can go up to seven years of incarceration or fine or both.

A week later, on March 21, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs notified, under the Essential Commodities Act, the ‘Fixation of Prices of Masks (2 ply and 3 ply), Melt Blown non-woven fabric and hand sanitisers Order, 2020’ , putting a cap on the prices of these goods declared as Essential Commodities. As per the notification, the retail price of hand sanitisers shall not be more than Rs 100 for a bottle of 200 ml of sanitiser. “The prices of other quantities of hand sanitisers shall be fixed in the proportion of these prices,” the notification said. In other words, an ml of sanitiser should not cost more than 50 paise.

The notification also put a cap on the price of surgical masks — it shall not be more than the price that existed on February 12, 2020 or Rs 10 for a three-ply mask and Rs 8 for a two-ply mask, whichever is lower, the notification said. The price caps will remain in force up to June 30, 2020.

Since the price of the main ingredient of sanitisers, alcohol, had also shot up, the ministry also brought, through a notification on March 19, alcohols used in the production of sanitisers under the EC Act and fixed its price at the level prevailing on March 5, 2020, till June 30.

The consumer affairs ministry, in a communication to all states and union territories also asked them to ensure easy availability of ethyl alcohol to all sanitiser manufacturers and also encourage them to run three shifts to meet the increased demand. Referring to the All India Distilleries Association’s offer to produce sanitizers in bulk, the ministry also suggested that states should give permission (if necessary) for such production on a priority basis.

In the United States, in response to severe shortage of sanitisers and their steep price rise, a number of distilleries have now switched over to manufacturing sanitisers and are distributing them free in the community. I really hope that some of our distilleries would follow that example and ensure adequate supply of sanitisers.

Meanwhile, drug control (these have been declared as drugs) and legal metrology departments of state governments have begun to crack down on chemists and other retailers hoarding and blackmarketing sanitisers and masks. In several cities, licenses of chemists have been cancelled for storing large quantities of duplicate sanitisers.

Now they need to also haul up all those selling sanitisers — whatever their MRP — at prices higher than the government mandated price and ensure adequate availability of hand sanitisers at the notified price.

Consumers, in the meanwhile, can complain to the local legal metrology department/consumer affairs department or on the national consumer helpline number 1800-11-4000 or on www.consumerhelpline.gov.in for violations of laws, including the notification on the price cap.