Nestle examining show-cause notice on GST benefits

Total M&A deals in volume were 49 last month against 28 y-o-y

Leading FMCG firm Nestle India on Wednesday said it is examining the show-cause notice slapped by the National Antiprofiteering Authority (NAA) for not passing on GST benefits to customers and take the next course of action in due course.

On December 12, the NAA imposed a penalty of Rs 90 crore on Nestle India for not passing on the benefit on rate reduction to consumers.

"I respect the authority for the order they have passed. However, it is very unfortunate that despite all the evidence that we had provided them in terms of changes in grammage, changes in prices that we had effected we received this order," company's Chairman and Managing

Director Suresh Narayanan said.

He further said that the company is examining the order and will take the next possible action in due course.

The authority held that Nestles methodology of passing reduction in the tax was 'illogical, arbitrary, and illegal, which has resulted in unfairness and inequality while passing on the benefit of tax reduction'.

"As a company we were transparent. We went to the authority actually voluntarily suo-moto, as we have some part of GST money collected, which we were not able to pass on asking where it could deposit this money. We had also given them the methodology as there is no existing one. We told pragmatically what we can be done in terms of price and grammage change. Yet, they have issued this notice," Narayanan added.