According to reports from Indian media, there was an incident in Tamil Nadu where a person found one biscuit missing from a packet of ‘Sun Feast Marie Light’ biscuits made by ITC Foods Limited, a well-known company.
Feeling cheated, this person took the matter to court and asked for INR 1 crore in damages. They said that their reputation was harmed because of this, and the company made unlawful profits.
The court took this matter seriously and called ITC Foods Limited representatives to explain why there were only 15 biscuits in the packet instead of the promised 16. This might seem small, but it could add up to a lot of money if it happened in many packets.
The person who complained, P Dillibabu from Chennai, had bought two dozen packets of these biscuits in December 2021 to feed stray animals.
When he realized one biscuit was missing from each packet, he asked the store for an explanation, but they didn’t give him a satisfactory answer. Even when he contacted ITC, he didn’t get a good explanation for the missing biscuit.
In his complaint, Dillibabu mentioned that each biscuit costs 75 paise, and considering that ITC makes nearly 50 lakh packets every day, it seemed like the company might have accidentally been shortchanging the public by a significant amount every day.
ITC Foods Limited’s representatives said it might have been an unintentional mistake and that biscuits are packed by weight, not by counting. However, the court didn’t accept this explanation.
In the end, the court agreed with the person who complained and ordered the company to pay INR 1 lakh as compensation to the customer, along with Rs 10,000 to cover legal expenses.
So, one missing biscuit from a packet led to ITC Foods Limited having to pay a significant amount of money. The person who complained said, “I initially asked for one crore as damages, but I’m okay with the court’s decision.”