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GST 2.0 Savings Largely Bypass Shoppers, Nationwide Survey Finds

Two weeks after rollout, retailer pricing lags block pass-through.

Overview

  • LocalCircles collected over 74,000 consumer responses across more than 330 districts to gauge how the tax cuts are showing up in final prices.
  • Packaged foods and medicines showed minimal relief, with only about 10% of buyers reporting full benefits and large shares seeing no price change.
  • White goods and consumer electronics performed better but not uniformly, as 34% reported full reductions and 33% partial, with a slight decline in benefits reported in week two.
  • Automobiles were the clear outlier, with about 76% of car buyers receiving the full cut and the rest partial, though reports of full or partial gains dipped in the second week.
  • Consumers cited unchanged MRPs, sales of old stock at pre-GST rates, and outdated prices on major e-commerce platforms, and the survey urged stronger brand–retailer coordination to enable pass-through without inventory losses.