Pre-Durga Puja shopping hits a speed breaker as buyers wait for GST rate cuts to kick in

KOLKATA: Bengal's biggest festival is about a fortnight away but the familiar buy-buy binge still eludes most retailers as shoppers wait for a price drop once the GST bonanza hits the market on Sept 22.

Retailers across sectors such as automobiles, electronics and garments said they are witnessing far fewer sales compared with the usual pre-Durga Puja frenzy.For auto dealers, the current spell is like a lull before the storm. Many are booking their desired models paying a token amount but requesting dealers to prepare the bills, and schedule delivery once the GST rate cut kicks in.

Retailers of electronic appliances such as washing machine and LED TV reported a 30% decline in sales.

Garments sale, too, is enduring a sluggish phase."Customers are visiting our stores but not making any purchase. We are expecting a scramble from Sept 22," said Abhishek Jain, director of electronic appliances at Sales Emporium. The GST Council had on Sept 3 slashed tax on garments priced up to Rs 2,500 from 12% to 5%. The cut for small cars and appliances like AC, washing machine and LED TV is from 28% to 18%. Once the revised rates kick in on the first day of Navratri - Durga Puja starts a week later - various categories of cars will be cheaper by anything between Rs 35,000 and Rs 10 lakh.

Partha Roy, a resident of Paikpara who booked a car last week, said, "I am planning to take delivery after the new GST rate comes into effect. I will save at least Rs 30,000."Retailers are now hopeful of a bounce-back in the last week before the puja and during the Dhanteras-Diwali window.

'Dealers must be ready to handle billing, delivery rush' Expecting a sudden spurt in delivery and registration with the rollout of the revised GST rates, Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has requested all dealers to boost their infrastructure.

"In the last 4-5 days there were a lot of bookings but most customers want billing and delivery after Sept 22 so they can avail of the full benefit of GST rate reduction. We are telling our dealers that their back-end should be ready to handle a massive jump in billing and delivery," said Rohit Chowdhury, state FADA chairperson.

"Some of the automobile manufacturers have already slashed prices but customers are waiting to see the full impact.

The delivery has slowed to a great extent," he added.Sushil Poddar, president of the Confederation of West Bengal Trade Associations, said the market of every product, except daily necessities, has slowed in the run-up to the implementation of GST 2.0. "It seems customers are waiting for the big day," he said.The director of Great Eastern Retail, Pulkit Baid, said appliance sale has dropped 30%. "We have slashed prices of various products, factoring in the new rates, but people are still biding their time for a clearer idea of the new price band," he said. Madhuri Baid, a resident of Gobra, said she will buy an LED TV set after Sept 22 "to reap the benefit of the new rate."Lalit Agarwal of apparel retailer V-Mart said the "de-growth phase" might continue for another 10-12 days before an upswing kicks in.