Mrp retailers can sell pre gst goods with new price stickers till 30 sep

MRP: Retailers can sell pre-GST goods with new price stickers till 30 Sep

MARKET NEWS - The government has allowed retailers with unsold pre-GST stocks to stick new prices on them for sales, taking into account the post-GST changes. This means that companies have time till 30 September to clear unsold pre-GST goods with a revised MRP to be displayed along with printed sale price to reflect the changes post the new tax regime kicking- in.

The old MRP will have to be clearly on display along with the revised MRP sticker. But from 1 October, all pre-packed goods will have to have just one MRP including the GST.The old MRP will

have to be necessarily displayed on the unsold inventories and the new rates can be reflected by way of stickers or through online printing alongside.

On items where the price has to be increased for unsold stocks, the manufacturer or packer or importer will have to give at least two advertisements in two or more newspapers informing people about the change.

MRP or Maximum Retail Price is the highest price that can be charged after including all taxes. But in case of some commodities, the tax rate has changed post Goods and Services Tax (GST), altering the MRP. This created a problem for several businesses which were left with large volumes of unsold prepacked items when the GST came into force from 1 July.

The difference between the retail sale price originally printed on the package and the revised price “shall not, in any case, be higher than the extent of increase in tax” or in the case of imposition of fresh tax on account of the implementation of the GST, it said.

“The original MRP shall continue to be displayed and the revised price shall not overwrite on it,” the notification said.

For reducing the MRP, a sticker of revised lower MRP (inclusive of all taxes) may be affixed and the same shall not cover the MRP declaration made by the manufacturer or the packer on the label of the package.

ARTICLE SOURCE – BUSINESS STANDARD