Informist, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025

NEW DELHI – The National Consumer Helpline has received 3,981 queries and grievances regarding industry not passing on the benefits of the recent goods and services tax rate cuts, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said in a release Thursday. Launched under the Central Consumer Protection Authority, the National Consumer Helpline was established to receive complaints and feedback to ensure that GST rate cuts are being passed on, particularly in the absence of anti-profiteering provisions.

 

According to the release, majority of the grievances received by the body were related to milk prices, followed by electronic goods, liquefied petroleum gas and petrol. Of the total calls received so far, 1,992 GST-related grievances have been forwarded to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.

 

"The Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, is keeping a close watch on these dockets for their early resolution/clarification," the release said. "The grievances have been escalated to the concerned brand owners/e-commerce entities for quick action," it said, adding that the department has initiated detailed reviews of the grievances for initiating class action, wherever necessary.

 

The GST Council on Sept. 3 overhauled the indirect tax regime by collapsing the four-slab GST structure of 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28% to a two-slab structure of 5% and 18%. The council also introduced a new GST rate of 40% on sin and luxury goods. All new rates, except for those on tobacco products, took effect from Sept. 22.

 

The GST Council segmented the two broad GST slabs on the tenets of 'merit' and 'standard', putting majority of common-use items in the 5% slab, thereby bringing down the effective average GST rate. A host of white goods, especially consumer durables like washing machines and big televisions, were moved to the 18% slab from 28%, thereby lowering the average GST rate further.

 

According to the release, grievances regarding the price of fresh milk, LPG, and petrol have been clarified to consumers that no tax changes were made to the first item, and that petroleum items stay out of the purview of the GST regime. There is no GST on fresh milk, and the Council had cut GST on only Ultra-High Temperature milk, the release said.

 

The release also said consumers raised grievances that laptops, refrigerators, washing machines, and other consumer durables purchased online were still being charged at pre-reform GST rates, and that no benefit of tax reduction was being passed on to them. The department's analysis revealed that the GST rate was reduced from 28% to 18% on TVs, monitors, dishwashing machines, and air conditioners as part of GST reforms, thereby meaning prices should have been lowered.

 

The Central Consumer Protection Authority continues to closely monitor the handling of these complaints and will initiate further proceedings wherever violations of consumer rights are established, the department said. "Wherever companies are found to have deliberately misled consumers by charging higher GST, or by not passing on the benefits of tax reductions in sectors where reforms do apply, strict action will be initiated under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 and other applicable laws," it said. "The Authority remains steadfast in its mandate to ensure that the fruits of reform are transparently and fairly delivered to consumers." 

 

The government has been monitoring the price changes pre- and post-GST rate cut, as the benefit of the move eventually hinges on businesses and industry passing on the benefit. The finance ministry, on Sept. 9, asked its field officers to compile monthly data reports on changes in prices of common-use articles for six months, with the first data report submitted to the ministry on Wednesday. The letter, seen by Informist, asked the field offices to treat the exercise "on priority". The data has to include the name of the commodity, brand, and the maximum retail price of 54 items before and after Sept. 22. The list of 54 items includes butter, shampoo, toothpaste, tomato ketchup, jams, ice cream, air conditioners, televisions, all diagnostic kits, glucometers, bandages, thermometers, erasers, crayons, cement.

 

The ministry also said that a significant portion of the complaints highlighted misperceptions regarding which commodities had witnessed GST reductions and which had not. "Central Consumer Protection Authority's analysis, therefore, serves both as a clarificatory intervention and as a reaffirmation of its mandate to protect consumers from misinformation, unfair trade practices, and lack of transparency," the release said.

 

The risks of profiteering are not new, as there have been occasions in the past when cuts in tax rates announced by the GST Council have not been passed on to consumers. Instead, companies have increased their profit margins. In November 2017, after the council reduced GST rates on restaurants to 5% from 18% and 12%, anti-profiteering investigations were initiated against some restaurants for allegedly not passing on the benefit of reduced taxes to customers.  End

 

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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