Increase in prices of dairy products upsets consumers

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, July 19

With an increase in the tax from 6 per cent to 12 per cent on dairy products, owners of Milkfed booths are upset as sales have come down after the onset of the new GST regime.

The prices of milk and other dairy products are set to see a major change after July. Shopkeepers, as of now, are selling products on old rates due to clearance of old stock and unavailability of new bill books. But popular brands like Mother Dairy, Amul and Verka have already increased the prices of various products. While Amul and Mother Dairy have hiked the price of the toned milk by Rs 2 per litre, Verka had increased the price of flavoured milk bottle by Re 1.

There has been a substantial increase in the tax over ghee with its prices going up by Rs 25-30 a kg. The prices of cheese, butter and ice-cream have also gone up with a marginal increase in tax.

ML Gupta, a Verka booth owner said: “The direct impact has come from farmers. Since taxes on inputs have become higher, the cost of production too has become higher. Earlier, VAT on many products was 6 per cent, it has been now doubled to 12 per cent. The sales have fallen. We have hardly made good business this month.”

Sukhmeet Kaur, a regular customer at Verka, said: “It’s freaking hot these days and people need chilled drinks most of the time. Due to high fibre and calcium, people prefer flavoured milks and lassi most. The increase in the prices of these commodities has really disappointed consumers. Though for a regular customer, an increase of Rs 1 or 2 does not really matter but taxes on such products should be fixed keeping in mind the poor. With the price of milk bottles and ice-creams going up, the affordability for the lower class will definitely go down.”

“The GST should be kept low for the food processing sector, as only then, farmers and consumers will be benefited. It seems that the GST had made many processed food beverages out of reach of the common man,” said another local resident Maninder Kaur.