THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The latest tweets of Union food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan has compounded the confusion over GST. The tweets have derailed finance minister T.M. Thomas Isaac’s drive to pull up businesses charging more than the MRP on pre-GST stock. Dr Isaac had made it clear that he would not tolerate if the MRP is hiked by even a single paise, but Paswan has now said that the MRP can be raised if the GST of a particular commodity has gone up.
To increase the price, Mr Paswan said the manufacturer/trader has to do two things. He will have to paste the new MRP sticker alongside the old MRP, and has to put up advertisements in two dailies announcing the hike in prices. The situation has become almost ironic. “It was only yesterday (Tuesday) that we slapped cases on shop owners who had pasted new MRP stickers on stocks they hold,” a top official of Legal Metrology Department said.
The trading community, grappling hard with the new GST norms, is perplexed. “Only manufacturers have the right to change the MRP. For a retailer to revise the MRP is illegal,” said Das Damodaran, buying manager, Lulu Retail. “The Centre’s new directive will only add to the confusion,” he added. The bigger issue is that of compensation. Both the Centre and the states have assured compensation to traders for the pre-GST stocks they would sell at the existing MRP. “Now that the Centre has allowed traders to change the MRP, what will happen to the promised compensation,” asks Jaison Melapparambil, a hardware wholesaler in the capital. The state had promised full compensation for the VAT the traders had already paid, and the Centre had assured that it will bear a portion of the service tax paid.
“Traders far below the supply chain are deeply concerned,” said Mohammed Siddique of Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti. “By law, we cannot change the MRP on the existing stock we have with us. But by not doing that, are we losing both the compensation and the higher prices we could have secured had we hiked the prices,” Mr Siddique asked.
