Network marketing is legal in India. This also applies to multi-tier marketing systems, with the exception of some businesses that are classified as multi-level illegal marketing because they are used to catch innocent consumers investing in MLM systems, and there is no actual trade in goods and services directly by investors or promoters. On the contrary, there is only one promise that the investor will get returns. However, such promises are never implemented and result in huge losses for investors. With the buzz surrounding banned direct selling companies in India as news broadcasts have exploded in recent years, people continue to search for the list of illegal MLM companies in India. Consumers and target distributors of these products are individuals who are much less aware of the technical details of the applicable laws. Is multi-level marketing legal for such audiences in India? The same has been studied below in the simplest way. My friends, today I will share a list of direct selling companies certified by the Government of India. The Indian government has registered 461 network marketing companies so far. The names of 461 companies on this list are registered by their CIN number, the date of registration of the company, the company containing the state and the registered office of the company.
You can now see if your business will be included in this list or not. If your company is not on this list, it will be your bad luck. I am only showing my keen interest in drawing your attention to direct sales companies through consumer helplines and have listed them with statements in some pro forma as well as a commitment to the Department of Consumer Affairs. As you all know, direct selling companies are legal in India by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, so take a look at the direct selling companies listed on the website without delay. The following MLM India schemes are considered illegal: Multi-level marketing in India is a broad terminology for marketing done through a distribution network such as a Ponzi scheme or a direct selling scheme in India. Multi-level marketing is also known as pyramid scheme, referral marketing, and network marketing. In 2005, KPMG produced a report by the FICCI, according to which direct sales in India represent a market of 75 billion rupees. While direct selling companies present significant opportunities for self-employment and tax revenue across the country, marketing, on the other hand, is the strategy mainly used by pyramid companies in order to sell products and services, where workers have a dual role of seller and buyer.
and subsequently the income of an MLM company comes from their unpaid work. maintain a certain number of sales in India or worldwide, through which the burden of selling and distributing products and services is not shifted to the workforce alone. Avon, Forever Living, Mary Kay and Amway are some of the most well-known MLM companies in India. These companies have gone public across the Indian market to increase direct sales and create employment opportunities for retirees, unemployed and housewives. In 1995, the multi-level marketing business plan was an important impetus in the Indian business industry, with Oriflamme being the standard-bearer of network marketing in India. Shortly after Tupperware`s multi-tier marketing launched, the Indian market was flooded with MLM business opportunities. According to DSN, Amway is now the fastest growing MLM company in India[1]. The general characteristics of the MLM system, which is not legal in India, are that there is a promise of a very high return, but in most cases, there are no underlying goods or services that have value. Companies that sell certain products or services through network marketing by coddling people on multiple levels are legal in India. Although the concept of pyramid schemes is declared illegal, some companies bring their products to disguise consumers as investments that ultimately serve the purposes of such a scheme.
With that in mind, is network marketing legal? The answer is yes, until such a network is built to create a consumer chain with real products. Money circulation systems that require money from people to be part of them are against the law. Thus, if a company makes more money by adding more distributors or recruiters under the guise of networking than with its products or services, it is more likely to fall into the category of direct selling companies banned in India. The question of the legality of pyramid schemes in India arose after several multi-step marketing scams in India. Network marketer`s performance-based money acquisition and commission-based compensation system is widely regarded as a very cost-effective method of making money from home, eventually opening the doors to opportunities in the MLM industry in India. This type of business only works with direct sales models, where there is no middleman involved and a buyer buys a product directly from the company itself. If you have also been a victim of such multi-level marketing scams in India, you can always take the help of the law! 4. Ponzi schemes – A Ponzi scheme is a type of MLM scam in the form of a fraudulent investment scheme that offers a very high return to its investors. These returns are paid to old investors through the inflow of funds from new investors. As a result, the system relies largely on a sustained flow of new investment and then collapses as soon as the flow of investors stops. It is extremely important to understand the difference between the Ponzi scheme and other types of multi-level marketing schemes such as pyramid schemes.
In a Ponzi scheme, a single person controls the funds and transfers the money from one person to another without having to make any real investments in the money. Once the investor`s trust is significantly gained, other investors begin to invest their money, after which the person with the intention of committing a scam disappears with all the investments made by the investors. On the other hand, a Ponzi scheme is much more structured because the initiator of the scheme recruits a number of investors and then delegates the task of recruiting future investors to investors recruited by the first investor or the person who starts the scheme. In India, network marketing and multi-level marketing programs are legal, but there are some exceptions that categorize some companies as multi-level illegal marketing because they maliciously aim to catch innocent customers who want to invest in MLM systems, when in reality, there is no actual trade in goods and services directly by investors or even promoters. Competition Act 2002 – Sometimes multi-level marketing under the guise of pyramid schemes in India labels their products at such overwhelming prices that the real value increases exponentially without justification. In such cases, the authorities come into play, which also regulate the price of these products so that the quality of the product complements the price confirmed by the Competition Law, in order to combat monopolies or illegal practices in the market. Multi-level marketing or MLM business plan hit the Indian commercial industry in 1995 with the global company MLM Oriflame, the standard bearer of network marketing in India. Soon, Tupperware`s multi-level marketing was launched and the Indian market was flooded with MLM business opportunities. Typically, in such a system, a person hires another person to work under them and is obliged to invest a certain amount, which is paid to the first recruiter. Since the person recruited by the initial recruiter needs to make his investment profitable, he in turn recruits more investors who want to invest a fixed amount of money, which results in a chain of pyramids.
A statement[2] was issued by the Reserve Bank of India in 2015 warning investors against such pyramid scams that guide clients through the promise of high returns, thus charging the underwriting fees of its team members. It has also been noted by the RBI that such pyramid, MLM or chain marketing structures promise quick or easy money by accepting members.