Govt. Monitors e-Commerce Platforms To Ensure Benefits of GST Pass On To Customers
The move of the government comes after receiving several complaints for not reducing the price of daily-used essential items being sold on some e-commerce platforms as announced by the government in its next-gen GST reforms
New Delhi: Now e-commerce platforms are under scanner as the government monitors prices of daily use FMCG products ranging from shampoo to pulses to ensure that the benefits of goods and services tax (GST) rate cuts are being appropriately passed on to consumers, a source said on Tuesday.
The move of the government comes after receiving several complaints for not reducing the price of daily-used essential items being sold on some e-commerce platforms as announced by the government in its next-gen GST reforms.
However, the source also said that the government has informally ticked off certain e-commerce operators for the prices they are offering on certain items. “Authorities are monitoring whether these platforms are complying with pricing norms and not withholding the intended consumer benefits from tax reductions,” the source said.
After the implementation of the GST 2, several e-commerce platforms are learnt to have cited ‘technical glitches’ when discrepancies in pricing pre- and post-GST reduction were pointed out. “The government is keeping a strict vigil on their day-to-day operations,” the source added.
Effective September 22, GST 2.O has become a two-tier structure of 5 per cent and 18 per cent. The earlier rates of 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent have been clubbed into two rates of 5 per cent and 18 per cent, resulting in a reduced price of 99 percent of daily use items.
There are over 54 items which prices need to be reduced as per new GST slabs. They include butter, shampoo, toothpaste, tomato ketchup, jams, ice cream, AC, TV, all diagnostic kits, Glucometer, bandages, thermometer, erasers, crayons, and cement, among others.
Although the anti-profiteering mechanism has not been enabled for complaints relating to profiteering, the government has been monitoring pricing, and various companies have themselves come forward and said that they are passing on tax cut benefits by reducing prices.
On September 9, the finance ministry had also written to central GST field officers to submit a monthly report of price changes in 54 commonly used items. The first report on the comparative details of the maximum retail price (MRP) of these commodities brand-wise, will have to be submitted to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) by Tuesday.