The Maharashtra Cyber Cell has given directions to BookMyShow and Zomato to print names on passes and check government-mandated IDs of individuals at the entry points of a concert venue for big-ticket events, to combat black-marketing of tickets.
The action came after the alleged black-marketing of tickets for the five Coldplay shows between January 18 and 26.
Maharashtra Cyber Cell Chief Yashasvi Yadav said that during big events, it was seen that many people are buying tickets on a large scale and selling them at many times the price through other platforms and social media. "Individuals were buying 25-20 tickets for the purpose of black-marketing," he said.
Yadav said that the directions will apply to events and concerts where the demand far surpasses the supply of tickets. Further, the Maharashtra Cyber Cell is also going to issue a white paper in this matter, which has been prepared by taking inputs from operators of all ticketing platforms. This white paper will be in legal form in which it will be written what technical changes are required for selling tickets and on the ticketing platforms.
The tickets for such events will not be transferable, even in the event the buyer is unable to go to the concert themselves. "In that case, just like for airlines, you have to cancel the ticket and make a fresh booking. A refund will be issued as per the ticketing platform's policy," Yadav said.
As Coldplay tickets sold out amid high demand when sales opened in October last year, fans turned to social media to vent their anger. Some of the tickets were later being sold in the black market at a much higher price, leading to a probe by Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW). BookMyShow filed an FIR over black marketing of tickets for Coldplay shows, adding that it is assessing potential cancellation of tickets that are being sold "unethically".
The BookMyShow chief executive officer and co-founder Ashish Hemrajani and the company's technical head were summoned by Mumbai Police in the matter.
