Consumers yet to see reduced MRP stickers post GST rate cut

In the wake of recent reports that the benefit of GST rate cut is not being passed to the consumers, results from a survey revealed that majority of the consumers agreed that the retailers have not decreased prices and they did not find any reduced MRP stickers.

The changes in the tax system were applicable from November 15 and were decided at the 23rd GST Council meeting headed by the finance minister Arun Jaitley. It moved 178 items from the 28 percent to the 18 percent tax bracket under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The government had asserted that prices of all affected products should reflect the change through MRP stickers and companies should make consumers aware of the price change post-GST rate cut.

In this regard, a survey was conducted by LocalCircles which received more than 14,000 votes.

The first poll asked consumers if the retailers have started passing the benefits of lower GST rates to them. 59 percent consumers in response said that they did not find any item at all with a reduced MRP sticker so far, whereas 28 percent said the majority of the items did not have an MRP sticker reflecting the change. Only 13 percent said that most items had MRP stickers reflecting reduced MRP.

Many consumers are reporting that in order to improve their profit margins, retailers are not reducing the prices of the products and intentionally selling them at the old, higher rates.

In a related poll, it was asked if the e-commerce sites were passing the benefits of reduced GST rates to them. 67 percent of respondents said that no items they had received had the reduced MRP sticker whereas 19 percent said that only a few items had the lower MRP sticker on them. Only 14 percent said most of the items had the reduced-price sticker on them.