WEDNESDAY, 7 OCTOBER 2026

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Today in Indian Retail

Ecommerce

Karnataka suspends Amazon Instamart BigBasket food licences

State acts after Datura sold as food with FSSAI numbers; quick-commerce platforms face immediate compliance heat.

, Editor··4 min read

Stacked cardboard delivery crates inside a dim warehouse corridor
Stacked cardboard delivery crates inside a dim warehouse corridor

Karnataka has suspended the food licences of Amazon, Swiggy Instamart and BigBasket after a citizen complaint that poisonous Datura was sold as food carrying FSSAI numbers. The action was reported on 25 August. The platforms must address the lapses before licences can be restored.

Karnataka suspended food licences of Amazon, Swiggy Instamart and BigBasket on 25 August following the sale of Datura mislabelled as food with FSSAI details. The move followed a public flag.

For dark-store operators the immediate hit is assortment gaps and rider idle time in the affected pin codes. A quick-commerce picker now has fewer SKUs to fulfil while compliance teams scramble for documentation and supplier audits.

Karnataka suspended the food licences of Amazon, Swiggy Instamart, and BigBasket after a citizen flagged poisonous Datura.

The suspension squeezes platforms already fighting unit economics and helps traditional kiranas that face fewer such regulatory flashpoints. It also puts pressure on every marketplace seller of loose or packaged food to tighten labelling.

Watch the restoration timeline and any pan-India FSSAI or state follow-up notices before the festive grocery surge.

Filed under Ecommerce·Ananya Rao

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