The Central Digital Commerce Cell (CDCC) yesterday refunded 30 affected customers of Dalal Plus, Ajker Deal and Anander Bazar for the companies' failure to deliver purchased goods on time.

Of the recipients, 10 customers of Dalal Plus received Tk 9.07 lakh collectively while 10 customers of Ajker Deal got refunds of Tk 5.46 lakh and 10 customers of Anander Bazar got Tk 6.05 lakh in total.

AHM Shafiquzzaman, chief of the CDCC, refunded the amount to the affected consumers of each company at a programme at the commerce ministry office in Dhaka.

At the event, Shafiquzzaman said all e-commerce companies will have to start refunding money to affected customers by March 31, otherwise they will have to face stern actions from the government.

The CDCC started refunding money to the customers of different troubled e-commerce companies as those firms had cheated thousands of people by receiving advance payment but failed to deliver the goods on time.

Upon receiving thousands of complaints from customers about the anomalies of rising e-commerce companies, the government installed a payment gateway in Bangladesh Bank on July 1 to monitor payments and prevent any cheating.

Shafiquzzaman also said the government will not give unlimited time to the e-commerce companies to make refunds.

"We have already set March 31 as the deadline, and by this time the companies will have to start the process of refunding. Otherwise, we will send the list of troubled E-commerce companies to the police to take legal action against them," said Shafiquzzaman, also an additional secretary of the commerce ministry.

So far, eight companies have started refunding money to their aggrieved customers, and it is expected that all payments will be completed soon, he added.