Grahakjago (S.K.Virmani)©

Several posts have been written on this blog from 2014 onwards about unfair business practices of the retailers like Home Saaz, Lifestyle, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop and others on charging of taxes on discounted sales prices. Some of the retailers have even been prosecuted but despite prosecution continue to carry out unfair business.  Recently on a complaint against Home Saaz about adoption of the similar practices, the Home Saaz was challaned for the same. In a recent judgment on 06/02/2018, The Hon'able District Consumer Forum, Ludhiana in a complaint number No. 741 of 11.10.2017 of Mr. Brij Mohan, Chandigarh vs. The Mandhana Retail Ventures Limited, Being Human-Silver Arc. Gr.Floor, Store No.10, Gurdev Nagar, Near Arti Chowk, Firoz Road, Ludhiana-141001 has termed such practices as unfair trade practices and have imposed a cost of Rs. 4,000/- to be paid by the company to the consumer. A full judgement of the same is quoted below which can be used by the consumers who are...

Petition to Department of Consumer Affairs for intervening in stopping unfair business by major retailers like Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Myntra, Jabong, Pantaloons, Home Saaz etc.  Dear Readers, I have been bringing to the notice of Govt. of India about the unfair business being carried out by major retailers like Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Myntra, Jabong, Pantaloons, Home Saaz etc. Several articles have been written on this blog since 2014, The copy of the Posts were being mailed to the respective retailers.However, the practice still continues as on date. The unfair business practices of these retailers are being derived out of charging taxes on the discounted sale price. The discounted sale price after factoring with the discount rate become revised MRP and hence charging of any tax on the MRP is unfair trade practices. Hon'able State Commission and Hon'able National Commission have already termed charging of tax on such discounted prices as unfair business practice...

Unfair trade practices by retailers (Shopperstop, Myntra, Jabong, Lifestyle, Anita Dongre, Big Bazar Gen Nxt) and others - Charging VAT/ GST on discounted sales There have been several posts in this blog bringing out details of unfair business being carried out by the retailers. T he first of such an article titled Is Ritu Wears adapting to ethical business Practices? probably "No". was published on 09/02/2014 followed by another article titled  Why VAT being charged by Aditya Birla Nuvo on discounted MRP when MRP is inclusive of all taxes? which was published on 10/02/2014. The link to these two articles are: http://skvirmani-jagograhak.blogspot.in/2014/02/is-ritu-wears-adapting-to-ethical.html http://skvirmani-jagograhak.blogspot.in/2014/02/why-vat-being-charged-by-aditya-birla Thereafter I have been working on a drive bringing out such unethical business practices by the retailers using other social media too. The articles were being shared with the stakeholders a...

Are you shopping at https://www.myntra.com/ ?  Have you ever checked your bill? It has come to the notice that www.myntra.com has been selling the products online by announcing the sales discount and sales discount has not become part and parcel of marketing activities. However, it is also adapting to unfair business practicse as surprisingly myntra.com seems to be flouting the regulations concerning MRP.  Maximum Retial Prices (MRP) are always inclusive of sales tax and all other charges and as per rules, no product can be sold at a price higher than MRP. It is seen that Myntra.com is charging VAT on the MRP without looking into the fact that the prices after the discount on MRP are also inclusive of VAT and other charges. This is illustrated as below from an invoice raised by myntra.com Invoice No. INV_1503073779_29 dtd. 17/05/2017 1. MRP:                    ...

An article titled "Illegal charging of VAT on discounted prices by brands/retailers" was published on 2nd July 2014 in this blog, the link of which is http://skvirmani-jagograhak.blogspot.in/2014/07/illegal-charging-of-vat-on-discounted.html Now the Hon'able National Commission has adjudicated that the charging of VAT on the discounted prices is unfair business practices and amounts to overcharging. The brief of the judgement is as: The addition of VAT on discounted price amounts to overcharging and unfair trade practice National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, (NCDRC) New Delhi in Revision Petition No.3156 of 2016 of BENETTON INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED (Petitioner) V s. RAVINDER SINGH (Respondent/Complainant) upheld the order of the State Commission and District forum directing the BENETTON INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED to pay compensation of Rs.5000/- to the complainant besides Rs.1000/- against cost of litigation.   The respondent complainant on 11.07.2014 pu...

Legal Metrology issues pertaining to MRP, under weight etc. - Shri S.K.Virmani associated with Jago Grahak Jago movement. Discussion on Sahara Samay

A copy of the complaint on illegal charging of VAT on discount sales by SRS Parivar                                                                                                                                 Dt. 20/08/2014 SRS Value Bazaar (a unit of SRS Ltd.) SRS Multiplex City Centre, Sector-12, Faridabad (NCR Delhi)-121007 Sub: Illegal c...

If bargaining at MRP makes you sure of buying products at best prices? Every product is supposed to be sold with MRP printed on the products or its packing. MRP is a price that retailer can sell at its maximum which includes VAT/Taxes, packing, transportation and any other additional charges. Selling any product more than printed MRP is illegal. In fact it is always adviseable to bargain and negotiate the prices less than MRP. There are certain category of products where the MRP is very exaggerated even to the tune of 100%. The traders have been announcing the scheme buy 1 and get 2 free etc. etc. The readymade garments is a glaring example. Now the question is if the companies can announce a discount of 50-60% and I am quite sure they must be making profit of around 15-20%. If we assume they are not making any profit during the discount season that means they may be making heavy profits when they are selling products at their MRP. The question now arises do the customer believe...