Retailers urge govt to avoid GST hike on luxury items

Kolkata: Retailers Association of India (RAI) has requested Centre and different state govts to refrain from hiking GST on luxury items, which it feels would be a significant dampener for the economy when retail growth was witnessing one of its lowest numbers since the Covid pandemic.RAI CEO Kumar Rajagopalan, who was in the city on Friday, said he had written to the Union FM, commerce minister and some states on this.Rajagopalan pointed out that between April and Sept, retail growth was 4%-5%, the lowest since Covid. The growth in the eastern region was better than the national average, he said, adding: "A big chunk of this growth was because of the expansion of different brands, and some brands grew due to innovation as well. There was not much growth on a like-to-like basis."Oct witnessed a growth of 10% because of Puja and Diwali. According to Nov data being collected, the growth was mainly driven by weddings.Rajagopalan said according to trends, premium products in higher price points registered good growth. However, in the value segment, growth was muted. "Especially for customers in the lower middle class and below, inflation has been a big challenge since 2022. Consumption must grow at healthy rate for economy to grow and anything detrimental to demand would be bad. One of the main worries is possibility of a GST hike on some luxury items," he said.
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