Consumers let down by GST, says survey

Even as the Government has started celebrating one year of the Goods & Services Tax on Sunday, not everyone is convinced that it has really been good’ and simple. A whopping 63% of the respondents to a survey said that their monthly grocery bills had not gone down as was assured by the Government while rolling out GST last year.

Punjab’s finance minister Manpreet Badal said tht he would give 8/10 to the Government for implementing GST but only 2/10 for the way it was implemented. The tax structure, he said, is yet to be simplified. Finance Minister of Kerala Thomas Isaac said that the experience of the last one year has been disappointing and feels that the anti-profiteering clause has been largely ineffective.

The Government, however, is planning a mega event to celebrate the first anniversary of the GST, maintaining that every home has been made into a happy home.

A discordant note has been struck by a section of central excise superintendents who have threatened to boycott the event, saying that nothing much has changed.

A survey noted that only 21% of the over 32,000 people in 215 districts of India interviewed said that their monthly household grocery bills had reduced after the GST implementation while 63% disagreed on this count.

The survey 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 was released on Friday.

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.

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

In November 2017, the GST rate for restaurants was reduced from 18% to 5%, making it more affordable for people to eat out.

The survey said that only 15% consumers felt that businesses were passing the benefits of Input Tax Credit under the GST regime to them. It said 61% felt it was not happening while 24% were not sure.

A total of 39% 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% 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% replies were affirmative, 46% negative and 26% 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% said it had increased, 14% said it had decreased, whereas 19% said it was the same as before. A total of 13% respondents said they were unsure.

With inputs from IANS