Ratna Bhushan
The GST Council, which is expected to meet next month, had slashed tax rates on 200 products including chocolates, toothpastes, shampoos, washing powders and shaving creams to 18% from 28% in November 2017. Industry executives said a further reduction is needed to trigger demand.
With the graded easing of the lockdown, India's food regulator has said all claims pertaining to immunity-boosting products such as biscuits, snacks, salt, water and even khakra must conform to regulations.
Sales of immunity-boosting foods have shot up by an estimated 20-40%. Online searches for such products have gone up six-fold, with ayurvedic home remedies, giloy and vitamin C dominating, according to a report by Google.
MTR Foods, a subsidiary of Norwegian conglomerate Orkla, with revenue of almost ₹900 crore, makes and sells spices, condiments, ready-to-cook breakfast mixes and ready-to-eat meals, beverages and sweets.
NWNT, a bootstrapped startup set up by psychiatrist Sandeep Vohra in 2011, uses augmented human intelligence-based technology to screen, evaluate, prevent and treat emotional and mental health disorders.
The maker of Maggi noodles and KitKat chocolate, which reported 10.7% increase in domestic sales for the quarter at Rs 3,124.2, however cautioned on consumption in the following quarters. “Consumers would hold back on indulgences and consumption may be constrained in the next two quarters. Buying patterns would change,” Narayanan said.
Devyani Foods sells ice-cream under the Creambell franchise. “The company has decided to close one of the smaller facilities at Baddi while strengthening the other larger manufacturing plants. Reports that the ice-cream business is being shutdown are totally false and misleading and vehemently denied,” DFIL said in a statement on Monday.
Modi had urged Indians to be “vocal about local” brands and buy products made domestically in a speech themed around a self-reliant nation. He had also tweeted that “local is not merely a need but a responsibility.”
“We need better policy framework to make ourselves self-reliant,” NRAI president Anurag Katriar said in a statement. “It is also clear that we will perhaps be one of the last sectors to open up, which means we perhaps need maximum support to stay alive. Our primary demands were largely around policy and liquidity support and did not require massive financial outlay from the govt,” he added.
Labour availability is still a major issue for many firms even in the green and orange zones.
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