Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has accused Decathlon, the French sporting goods retailer, of violating privacy and consumer laws, since they asked her to provide her phone number and email address to complete a purchase. 

Moitra recounted visiting Delhi’s Ansal Plaza, where she went to a Decathlon outlet to buy a pair of trousers for her father, but the store manager insisted on her personal contact information in order to complete the purchase. 

The West Bengal lawmaker refused and tweeted about the incident from the store. She also shared a message which Moitra apparently received from a top Supreme Court lawyer, asking her not to share personal details. 

“Ask them to reconfigure their system”, the message read, recounting the individual’s experience, “I ran into the same problem with Lenskart (an eyewear retail chain) and refused to give my mobile number. I spoke to their head manager and finally he put in some random employee’s mobile number”. 

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Moitra also noted that the manager was “sweet” and put in his own phone number so the lawmaker could complete her purchase. However, she demanded the store reconfigure its system. 

Moitra, who used to work as an investment banker for JPMorgan in the United States and London, before her political career, noted that she’s previously bought items from Decathlon’s stores in the UK. The politician noted that they never ask for mobile numbers and email ids are only sought when customers seek a paperless receipt. “So clearly only the Indian arm wants to fool customers here”, Moitra added. 

Notably, retail stores usually ask customers for private information at the time of sales completion, in order to build a data catalogue, which is used for various purposes, including informing buyers of prospective sales and offers. However, this widely used business tool within India does not make it mandatory for customers to provide these details to make a purchase.