Retailers Pass On GST Cut Benefits
The government had announced implementation of new GST slabs from September 22 and retailers are bound to pass on these benefits to the customers.
Hyderabad:The September 22 deadline for GST cuts has come in with rains, commencement of the Navaratri festivities and varied price cuts across different retail sections. The government had announced implementation of new GST slabs from September 22 and retailers are bound to pass on these benefits to the customers.
"We have received a list of about 10,000 products for revision and all of it has been updated on our systems," said the manager from Ratnadeep at East Marredpally. "The system automatically shows updated GST on the products, such as vegetables and stationary items with zero GST," he added.
The store also had placards mentioning, "Full GST benefits have been passed onto the customers".
The price cuts have been sporadic across platforms as well retail outlets. While online platforms such as Swiggy had started dropping their prices on many grocery items almost a week ago, others are yet to catch up. The same situation remains at retail outlets also.
"I don't know whether it is due to the rain or because of the first day of Navaratri, the crowd has been unexpectedly less today," said the manager at Ratnadeep.
Certain supermarkets are yet to give the full benefit of GST cuts to the customers. One such store at West Marredpally is yet to update GST prices on household and cleaning items.
On Swiggy Instamart, certain items show more price cuts than others, such as personal care items, cosmetics, female hygiene brands, etc.
On social media, users have thrown flak at certain online platforms for not reducing their prices. One user pointed out how Blinkit had failed to reduce the price for Amul full cream milk, which still had the `35 price tag for a 500 ml packet — the product continued to attract five per cent GST.
“Prices at this point seem to be so confusing. The pre-GST cut sale on Swiggy has made us believe that price cuts have happened, but they have been mostly for brands that are not popular. Most-used brands are yet to drop their prices and the 'sale' tag is misguiding and illusionary. At least other platforms are not misguiding customers," said another user on Reddit.