CCPA Delists 3,940 Explosive Sellers From 7 Online Platforms

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has moved against the sale of regulated explosive substances through e-commerce websites. Offers of Ammonium Nitrate, Gun Powder, Picric Acid and Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate, better known as PETN, were found on seven digital marketplaces. After the regulator stepped in, the entries belonging to 3,940 sellers were pulled down from every one of those platforms.

Which laws were used

The regulator acted under the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 and the e-commerce rules framed under it in 2020, read together with the Explosives Act of 1884 and the Ammonium Nitrate Rules of 2012. A dealer in these chemicals must hold a licence from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, shortened to PESO. A marketplace, in turn, is expected to show the licence details of a seller and to satisfy itself that the buyer is licensed before any sale is completed.

The seven platforms

The marketplaces covered were IndiaMART, TradeIndia, Dial4Trade, Justdial, Sigma-Aldrich India, ExportersIndia and Ibuychemikals. The largest count by far came from IndiaMART, with 3,092 sellers, of whom 2,700 were offering Ammonium Nitrate, 370 Picric Acid and 22 Gunpowder or PETN. ExportersIndia followed with 421 sellers, then Justdial with 206, TradeIndia with 166 and Dial4Trade with 11. Sigma-Aldrich and Ibuychemikals were found to trade only in their own goods and to carry no outside sellers at all.

Fines and the appeals that followed

Three final orders have been issued, each with a money penalty of 10 lakh rupees: one against Dial4Trade over Ammonium Nitrate, and two against the firm behind ExportersIndia. Dial4Trade was also ordered to stop carrying explosives on its site, and its appeal to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the NCDRC, was thrown out on 9 October 2026. The listings were treated as misleading advertisements and as unfair trade practices. IndiaMART has taken its show-cause notices to the Delhi High Court by way of a writ petition, and the last hearing in the Justdial case is fixed for 23 October 2026. The Director General for Investigation is still examining Sigma-Aldrich, TradeIndia and Ibuychemikals.

Where a buyer can complain

Any explosive put up for sale on an online platform may be reported to the National Consumer Helpline, whose number is 1915.