Hyderabad: Bad news for ice-cream lovers. They will have to shell out more money to buy their favourite flavours. Customers will have to pay more for ice-cream and a few other food items like paneer and dry fruits because they are categorised as luxury items, said the Telangana hotel associations.
Branded products will become dearer now. Branded oil and basmati rice may become costly. K Ashok Reddy, president of the Telangna State Hotel Associations, said, “Prices may increase for a few ‘luxury’ food items because hotel owners buy these items by paying an 18 per cent luxury tax. If we don’t sell at a margin, then it’s a huge loss. So, there are chances of increase in prices of food items, falling under the luxury category.”Jagdish Rao, a hotel owner, said, “Hotel owners have not increased the MRP so far. Only major restaurants have increased the MRP’’.
