Last-mile confusion on Day 1

Retail chains ready with updated billing, PoS machines

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ABDULANSARI, Akirana store owner in the Vakola area of Santacruz, Mumbai, is unclear how the next-generation GST reforms, which became effective on Monday, will be implemented. He remains unwilling to pass on the price benefits to consumers, saying that the existing inventory has higher price tags, preventing him from doing much.

Dolly Singh, a store manager at Walk2Mart, a local supermarket in Andheri, Mumbai, is blunt.

"How can I pass on the price benefits when the inventory does not reflect the price change?" she asks. However, Singh remains hopeful that fresh inventory with revised pricing will begin hitting the market in the next 15-20 days.

Lower prices will be passed to consumers by then, she says.

Ansari and Singh are not the only last-mile retailers with lack of clarity on implementation.

Mom-and-pop and neighbourhood stores, considered the backbone of the FMCG industry, across cities such as Delhi-NCR and Ahmedabad apart from Mumbai remain confused.

They say they will wait to see how the new GST rates would reflect in billing and pricing.

Sanjiv Mehra, president of Khan Market Traders Association in Delhi, pointed to "a lot of implementation-based queries" that still need clarity.