GST implementation had a big impact on the prices of food items in restaurants. Indian government faced huge criticism due to GST. This made them make changes in the GST for many sectors. The GST Council brought both AC and Non-AC restaurants under the 5% slab, but McDonald’s India is making people pay the same amount even after the decrease in GST.
A regular McDonald’s visitor Amogh Chaphalkar noticed this and shared the bill on Twitter. He tweeted “Shame on you @mcdonaldsindia Not passing on GST benefit to customers should be a crime @FinMinIndia Please take action!”. You can see he also tagged the Official Account of the Ministry of Finance.
Shame on you @mcdonaldsindia Not passing on GST benefit to customers should be a crime @FinMinIndia Please take action! pic.twitter.com/P9J4gWNxfX
— Amogh Chaphalkar (@chaphya) November 15, 2017
You can see the price earlier was Rs. 120.34 + 18% GST and after the revised GST the price of the item has been increased to Rs. 135.24 + 5% GST.
Twitter users reacted quickly over this and are opposing this step in every possible way. Take a look at some of the tweets from users.
Common man still pays the same price.
Classic case of passing it on to the consumer. Why, @mcdonaldsindia ? Even after reducing #GST to 5%, the common man pays the same. #BoycottMcdonalds #notlovinit pic.twitter.com/pGeoJNPhCV
— Shrutika Kalbag Kini (@shrutikakalbag) November 15, 2017
If McDonald’s can do it think about other restaurants in India
@arunjaitley @McDonalds @McDonaldsCorp @narendramodi @PMOIndia #Arun Jaitly sir u r intention of reduction in GST is not serving the customers..We people stil paying the same amt before & after reduction of GST.if @McDonalds can do it think about other restaurants in India 🇮🇳. pic.twitter.com/NH3ZsnkAis
— Its me Arun (@arunsoul) November 16, 2017
Keep your eyes open before paying.
This is how GST benifit is not reaching to public, Look at these 2 bills from McDonalds one is before 15th nov 2017 when GST was 18% and second is when GST is 5% total in both is 142 for same item. Keep your eyes open before paying. @narendramodi @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/8ZIaAiFrD8
— Sandeep Singh K (@Sandeepsingh_k) November 16, 2017
McDonald’s India was quick to explain the rise in the price. They replied with 3 tweets.
The Government has brought down GST from 18% to 5%, but there has been a removal of Input Tax Credit.[1/3]
— McDonald's India (@mcdonaldsindia) November 15, 2017
Due to this, our operating costs have gone up. However, keeping customer convenience in mind [2/3]
— McDonald's India (@mcdonaldsindia) November 15, 2017
we have structured the changes in such a manner that total amount paid by the customer remains the same. [3/3]
— McDonald's India (@mcdonaldsindia) November 15, 2017
This explanation wasn’t enough Amogh and replied back McDonald’s India with a more logical explanation.
That's the most lousiest explanation I have ever come across! Price to customer should reduce! Price it at 120 and pay 6 rupees tax (5% of 120) to government. Transaction value becomes 126.Instead you are raising price. Complete illogical
— Amogh Chaphalkar (@chaphya) November 15, 2017
Brands should learn from this incident and need to be very careful with their prices as there are people who are aware of customer laws and facts about such practices. Take a look at this tweet for an example.
So the input credit was 13% of the sale, not true, no one can or should make profits out of taxes, illegal and unethical to say the least @adhia03 @CBEC_India @askGST_GoI @arunjaitley pls take action else this reduction in taxes will not percolate
— Nitesh Jain (@canitesh_jain) November 15, 2017
Things like this make people avoid big companies as most big players just care about their profits nothing else.
