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Informist, Monday, Mar. 9, 2026

NEW DELHI - The government has spent over INR 887 million to advertise the goods and services tax rate cuts announced in September, or the 'GST Bachat Utsav', Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written response to a question in Lok Sabha Monday.

The GST Council in September overhauled the indirect tax structure –- the four slabs of 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28% were collapsed into two slabs of 5% and 18%, effective Sept. 22. The Council segmented the two broad GST slabs on the tenets of 'merit' and 'standard', putting a majority of common-use items in the 5% slab, thereby bringing down the effective average GST rate. A host of white goods, especially consumer durables like washing machines and big televisions, were moved to the 18% slab from 28%, thereby lowering the average GST rate.0

"...wide publicity campaigns were undertaken to spread awareness about GST rate rationalisation through print media and social media," Chaudhary said.

The government had issued multiple advertisements, advertorials, and social media posts to promote the cut in GST rates. It had also set up a National Consumer Helpline to receive complaints and feedback to ensure that GST rate cuts are being passed on, particularly in the absence of anti-profiteering provisions. 

In the absence of an anti-profiteering mechanism to file complaints relating to profiteering, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has been monitoring the prices of important commodities, including packaged food items and medicines, pre- and post-Sept. 22 to see that the benefits are duly passed on to end consumers. The CBIC tracks data of 54 items including butter, shampoo, toothpaste, tomato ketchup, jams, ice cream, air conditioners, televisions, all diagnostic kits, glucometers, bandages, thermometer, erasers, crayons, cement.

The risks of profiteering are not new, as there have been occasions in the past when cuts in tax rates announced by the GST Council have not been passed on to consumers. Instead, companies have increased their profit margins. In November 2017, after the council reduced GST rates on restaurants to 5% from 18% and 12%, anti-profiteering investigations were initiated against some restaurants for allegedly not passing on the benefit of reduced taxes to customers.  End

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

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