PharmEasy Slapped Rs 2 Lakh Fine for Auto-Add Subscription Practice
Nursing Home Fined Rs 5 lakh for Medical Negligence
New Delhi: Taking strong action against deceptive online checkout designs, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a Rs 2 lakh penalty on PharmEasy for auto-adding a Rs 99 three-month subscription to customer orders without explicit consent, a practice that impacted nearly 24,000 consumers.
The CCPA concluded that PharmEasy’s checkout flow used the “basket sneaking” dark pattern, where a paid service is added to the cart without clear permission, misleading customers about their final bill, reports The Times of India.
Further examination revealed that PharmEasy discontinued the auto-add feature only after receiving a show-cause notice in June, which the regulator stated showed reactive compliance rather than voluntary correction. The company’s operator, Axelia Solutions, claimed the subscription option was visible, but the CCPA held that visibility does not equal informed consent. As per a recent media report in ET Pharma, nearly 24,000 such subscriptions had been processed.
The authority has now directed PharmEasy to permanently remove the auto-add mechanism, ensure clear affirmative consent for any paid service, and refrain from using any dark patterns or misleading interface designs. The regulator emphasised that such practices undermine consumer rights and erode trust in digital-health platforms.
