The consumer movement in India has made some progress in terms of numbers of organised groups and their activities. There are today more than 700 consumer groups in the country of which, unfortunately only about 20-25 are well organised and recognised for their work. However, the consumer redressal process is becoming cumbersome, expensive and time consuming because many a time, consumers are required to engage lawyers. These cases require time for filing and attending the court proceedings etc. In most purchases cash memos are not issued hence evidence is not easy to gather. Moreover most purchases in the market are small retail sales. The existing laws are also not very clear on the issue of compensation to consumers injured by defective products. Filing cases, attending court proceedings, hiring lawyers, and other procedures make it cumbersome.
