Indian Supermarkets Still Not Following GST Norms

According to the sources of Legal Metrology department, approximately 78 cases registered against wholesale retailers and big supermarkets in the Vijayawada on 14 May 2018. It was a surprise raid directed at bigger multi-brand retailers such as Big Bazaar, Reliance Hypermart, Decathlon, and Metro. During the raid, it was noticed that the management at the retailers is selling products under false GST slab category.

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PSRNT Swamy, the assistant controller of the Legal Metrology department mentioned in a statement, “Violations in MRP and GST implementation were observed in most retail shops. Despite Central government reducing the tax bracket from 28 percent to 18 percent on certain products, retailers still impose the old GST rate of 28 percent on them.”

Further, it was also noticed that the wheat bags mentioning weight was not matching with the actual weight.

He further mentioned, “A wheat bag, which should be five kilograms, falls short by 52-60 grams. Rice bags are sold without a declaration of MRP rates and date of packaging.”

Moreover, many products were caught violating the packaged commodities rules because there was no information about the date of packaging, manufacturer, email address and consumer care number.

The officials mentioned they registered those cases and would put a determined charge against the retail and wholesale aggregators.

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