Only 21% feel GST reduced monthly grocery bills: Survey

Only 21 per cent of the over 32,000 people in 215 districts of India said that their monthly household grocery bills had reduced after the GST implementation while 63 per cent disagreed on this count, a survey released on Friday said.

The poll was conducted by LocalCircles, a citizen engagement platform, to ascertain the impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime on the lives of people in the last one year.

According to a release, the GST consumer survey consisted of four polls among more than 32,000 respondents across 215 districts.

In the first poll, respondents were asked if their monthly household grocery bills had reduced due to GST which was implemented a year ago.

"Only 21 per cent agreed while 63 per cent didn't. Sixteen per cent were unsure," the release said.

In November 2017, the GST rate for restaurants was reduced from 18 per cent to five per cent.

The second question pertained to whether the cost of eating at a restaurant had come down after GST implementation. The release said that 28 per cent agreed while 57 per cent said no. Another 15 per cent respondents were unsure on this count.

The survey said that only 15 per cent consumers felt that businesses were passing the benefits of Input Tax Credit under the GST regime to them.

It said 61 per cent felt it was not happening while 24 per cent were not sure.

A total of 39 per cent respondents said that they have been charged GST on discounted price once or more while shopping online or in retail stores in the last three months. Twenty nine per cent said it had not happened to them while 32 per cent were not sure.

"Many consumers had earlier reported that sellers were befooling them by charging GST on discounted prices and this was against the MRP rule.

"Responding to a question on sellers (online or retail store) levying GST on MRP in the last three months, 28 per cent replies were affirmative, 46 per cent negative and 26 per cent said they were not sure about it.

The release said that in reply to the last question on the impact on cost of services (mobile, movie tickets etc), 54 per cent said it had increased, 14 per cent said it had decreased, whereas 19 per cent said it was the same as before. A total of 13 per cent respondents said they were unsure.

--IANS

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