How Meesho is Helping Piracy in India — And Why No One is Able to Check
In the glittering narrative of Indian startups, Meesho stands as a poster child of “democratising commerce for Bharat.” Founded by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, the SoftBank-backed unicorn has grown into one of India’s largest social commerce platforms, empowering lakhs of resellers and claiming to bring affordable products to the masses. Its valuation soared, its ads flooded Meta and Google, and its leadership is celebrated as visionary.
But beneath this carefully curated success story lies a darker, uglier reality that is quietly strangling India’s creative economy: Meesho has become one of the most efficient facilitators of physical book piracy in the country — particularly of Hindi literature — and neither the platform’s own systems, nor the government, nor the courts have been able (or willing) to stop it.
This is not an allegation. This is a documented, multi-publisher, multi-month crisis that has now exploded into the open.
The Spark: Divya Prakash Dubey’s Painful Plea
On 7 July 2026, one of Hindi literature’s most successful contemporary authors, Divya Prakash Dubey (author of eight bestsellers that have sold lakhs of copies), published a searing open letter on LinkedIn titled “How Online Piracy Is Destroying Hindi Literature—And Why Meesho Must Act!”.
He wrote not in anger, but in “deep, honest pain.” His publisher, Hind Yugm, had repeatedly reported hundreds of unauthorized listings of his books on Meesho. They submitted every document demanded. They did everything right. Weeks passed. The listings stayed. New ones appeared.
Every unauthorized sale, he said, is a royalty stolen from the author and publisher. Every week of inaction is a publisher reconsidering whether to invest in another Hindi author. Every day of delay is a young writer thinking twice about writing in Hindi at all.
He appealed directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Meesho CEO Vidit Aatrey, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and the Ministry of MSME.
The letter went viral. But it was not the beginning of the problem. It was merely the moment when a long-suppressed scream finally broke through.
The Pattern: Systematic Inaction Across the Hindi Publishing Industry
Divya Prakash Dubey is not alone. For months, multiple Hindi publishers have been fighting the same battle — and losing.
Deepak Shankar Jorwal, founder of Hindi Panktiyaan and Pankti Prakashan (an IIT-Kanpur alumnus who left a corporate path to build a Hindi publishing house), has been the most vocal. In a series of detailed LinkedIn posts, he has revealed:
- Over 100 formal reports of pirated books submitted to Meesho.
- More than 105 emails exchanged with Meesho’s legal and compliance teams.
- Meesho’s consistent response: reclassify the listings as “Pre-Owned” books — genuine second-hand copies being resold legally — and demand fresh documents, video proof, or new evidence every single time.
- When Jorwal and his team ordered the books themselves, they received freshly printed pirated copies with poor binding, missing pages, and clear signs of illegal reproduction — not used books.
- Despite ironclad proof, the listings remain live, new sellers appear, and Meesho continues to earn commission on every illegal sale.
Other authors and publishers have echoed the same experience. Instagram is flooded with “Meesho book hauls” showing complete sets of bestsellers (including Dubey’s works) selling for ₹400–500 for 8 books — prices that make legitimate publishing economically impossible. Readers proudly post unboxings of these “bargains,” unaware they are financing theft.
This is not random counterfeiting. This is industrial-scale, platform-enabled piracy.
How Meesho Actively Helps Piracy: The Anatomy of Facilitation
Meesho does not merely “fail to act.” Its systems and incentives actively enable and protect pirates:
- The “Pre-Owned” Loophole as Shield When rights owners report piracy, Meesho’s standard defence is to label the listings “Pre-Owned.” This clever semantic trick allows them to claim the books are legitimate used goods. In reality, as multiple publishers have proven by purchasing and examining the products, these are brand-new, low-quality pirate prints. By inventing this category for books, Meesho has created a legal grey zone that protects the infringers while generating revenue for itself.
- Endless Documentation as Delay Tactic Publishers report, submit ISBN proofs, copyright certificates, publisher authorisations, purchase receipts of pirate copies, and comparison photos. Meesho asks for more. Then more. Then video evidence. Then affidavits. This is not due diligence — it is deliberate attrition designed to exhaust small publishers who lack the legal firepower of large brands.
- Commission-Driven Blindness Meesho earns money on every sale. Removing hundreds of high-volume pirated book listings would hurt short-term GMV. The economic incentive is perfectly aligned with inaction.
- Aggressive Promotion of the Very Listings Publishers have documented that Meesho’s advertising systems (Meta + Google ads) continue to promote the pirated listings even after complaints. The platform is not just hosting the crime; it is amplifying it.
- Opaque Seller Ecosystem Despite repeated Delhi High Court orders directing Meesho to display complete seller details (name, address, GST, contact) on listings and invoices (as mandated by the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020), many pirate sellers remain shadowy. Courts have had to repeatedly order Meesho to disclose KYC data of infringers. Transparency is selective.
Meesho’s Public Claims vs Reality: Project Suraksha’s Hollow Promise
Meesho loves to publicise its anti-counterfeit efforts. In 2023, it proudly announced “Project Suraksha,” claiming to have removed 42 lakh counterfeit and infringing listings and 10 lakh restricted products in six months, blocked 12,000 bad-actor accounts, and created a “Suraksha List” of 1,800 high-risk brands. It repeatedly boasts of AI and data-science models.
Yet when it comes to Hindi books — a category with clear copyright owners, ISBNs, and easily identifiable covers — the same sophisticated systems suddenly become helpless. Project Suraksha works wonderfully for high-value fashion brands that can hire expensive law firms. It fails spectacularly for Hindi literature publishers who cannot afford endless litigation.
This is selective enforcement. This is class-based protection of intellectual property.
The Legal Reality: Meesho is Sitting on a Powder Keg
Under Indian law, Meesho is an “intermediary” under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Safe harbour is conditional: once the platform has “actual knowledge” of infringement and fails to expeditiously remove the content, the immunity collapses.
The Copyright Act, 1957 imposes secondary liability. Multiple Delhi High Court judgments (including against Meesho itself in trademark and copyright cases involving garments, images, and brands) have held that once proper notice is given, the platform must act within a short window (often 72 hours) and disclose seller details.
Meesho has been hauled up repeatedly for non-compliance with e-commerce rules on seller transparency. Yet for book piracy, the same platform continues its delaying tactics with impunity.
The result? Small Hindi publishers are being driven to the wall while a unicorn earns commissions on stolen intellectual property.
Why No One is Able to Check: The Systemic Failure
Why does this continue?
- Regulatory Capture by Scale: Meesho is too big, too well-funded, and too politically connected. Ministries prefer photo-ops with unicorn founders over messy enforcement against them.
- Fragmented Enforcement: Copyright is a civil matter. Individual publishers must sue. Police and Cyber Crime cells treat book piracy as low priority. The Copyright Office has no proactive e-commerce monitoring capacity.
- Judicial Overload: Even when courts order take-downs (as they have against Meesho multiple times), new pirate sellers simply reappear under different names within days. Without permanent technical measures (hash-based blocking, AI fingerprinting of covers, mandatory ISBN verification), the whack-a-mole game never ends.
- Reader Complicity: Price-sensitive Indian readers treat cheap books as a “win.” There is little social stigma against buying pirated physical books when they come with free delivery and cash-on-delivery.
- Investor Silence: SoftBank, Peak XV, and other investors who demand ESG compliance from portfolio companies have remained deafeningly silent. Protecting GMV apparently trumps protecting Indian creators.
The Real Cost: The Slow Death of Hindi Literature
Hindi publishing is not a hobby. It is a fragile ecosystem of small publishers, first-time authors, translators, and designers who operate on razor-thin margins. When Meesho floods the market with ₹50–70 pirate copies of books that legitimately cost ₹250–350, the legitimate supply chain collapses.
Publishers stop commissioning new titles. Authors stop writing in Hindi. Young talent migrates to English or abandons writing altogether. Readers get poor-quality books with missing pages and blurry print. Culture itself is impoverished.
Divya Prakash Dubey put it perfectly: “Piracy should never be more profitable than creativity.”
On Meesho, it currently is.
Conclusion: Time for Accountability, Not PR
Meesho’s leadership — particularly Vidit Aatrey — can no longer hide behind “we are just a platform” or Project Suraksha press releases. The company has actual knowledge of industrial-scale copyright infringement. It has chosen delay, semantic games, and revenue over the law.
The government cannot continue issuing statements about “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and “promoting Indian languages” while allowing a major Indian platform to systematically destroy Hindi publishing.
Investors cannot claim to back India’s future while funding a company that cannibalises its cultural creators.
Readers who buy these “bargains” are not getting deals — they are participating in the quiet murder of the very literature they claim to love.
Meesho is not just helping piracy. In the specific domain of Hindi books, it has become the most powerful distribution engine for it.
And as of July 2026, no one — not the platform, not the ministries, not the courts in any sustained way — has been able or willing to check it.
That must change. Immediately.
Indian authors deserve better. Indian publishers deserve better. Indian literature deserves better.
Piracy should never be more profitable than creativity. On Meesho, right now, it is.
Inventiva will continue to investigate and publish further developments. Authors and publishers facing similar issues are invited to share documented evidence with us confidentially.
