Penalty, imprisonment for not displaying revised prices post GST implementation

The companies may have to bear a major brunt for not updating the new prices as the MRP on goods and services after the implementation of GST on July 1.

The consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan warned the companies that in case the new prices of the commodities are not printed on the inventories, the company may have to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh along with a term in jail. 
   
While the manufacturers have been granted the permission to clear their inventory of unsold goods by the month of September with the revised MRP in accordance with the GST rates.   

The price revision post GST has been made mandatory for all the goods and services. The companies are directed to use stickers for displaying the revised rates to ensure proper awareness of the revised prices. In case of non-compliance the companies will attract a penalty of Rs 25,000 for the first-time offence, while for the second time, a fine of Rs 50,000 and a Rs one lakh fine for the third time, along with imprisonment of up to one year.      

Moreover, the government has established a committee to ease out the implementation of GST and address the complaints and grievances of the customers in this regard. The helplines have been increased from a mere 14 to 60 in number in order to address tax related queries, as there is a lot of confusion amongst the customers regardig the GST implementation.  

The minister commented that the helplines have received around 700 queries till now and the helplines seek help from their finance counterpart to resolve them.