Must have experienced overpricing of pre-packaged goods at airports and multiplexes. An airy packet of chips, which costs Rs 20 outside is 50 inside the airport. They charge so much for a bag of air! Similarly, our mineral water bottle's charge curges to double inside a multiplex. But, it's all going to change, thanks to GST and the amendments to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.
A committee led by Ram Vilas Paswan, the present Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution Minister of India, announced these amendments in the rule book. According to the new law, now there is a ban on dual MRPs for pre-packed commodities. And no person can declare dual MRPs on a pre-packaged commodity until and unless it's allowed by the law.
Though unfortunately, it's not applicable to restaurants as they come under the category of supplier services in GST, said Rahul Singh, secretary, National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI). Maybe, time to take a flight or book a movie, and eat something out there.
Not only that, the ministry has also made it mandatory for e-commerce sites to carry retail prices and other essential information. Also the font size for information such as manufacturing date, expiry date, etc. is also to be made larger to be easily readable.
And it doesn't stop here. It's also been decided that stents, valves, syringes and other such medical items will have to display the MRP. Looks like, quite a good amount of your money is going to be saved here.
These will ensure customer awareness and ensure they are not looted by the hospitals. Though the rules will come to effect only by January 2018 to give merchants some breathing space, still, one commodity, one price sound affirmative.
