Comments
Insurance consultant Ms Sayali Mehta, who postponed buying a new refrigerator is now regretting the decision. Since last week, prices of consumer durables have been rising as manufacturers feel the double sting of excise duty and service tax hikes.
The Budget hiked the service tax and the excise duty from 10 per cent to 12 per cent. Durable firms are now passing on the hike to consumers.
On April 2, Samsung India announced a price increase of 1.5-2 per cent in its home appliances. While air-conditioner prices have increased in the range of Rs 300-2,500, refrigerators prices have become costlier by Rs 150-1,500. Washing machines are pricier by Rs 150- 250.
Market leader LG too has hiked prices across product categories by 1.5 per cent, effective April 1. Godrej put up prices by 2 per cent in the last week of March across product categories.
“We do not foresee any further hike for the rest of the summer,” said Mr Kamal Nandi, Executive Vice-President (Sales & Marketing), Godrej Appliances. Declining to quantify the hike, Whirlpool saidit has also passed on the burden to the consumers and entirely covered up for the excise duty hike.
Mr Pradip Bakshi, COO, Voltas Ltd, said: “We are passing on the effect of regulatory changes to the consumer with an approximate 2 per cent hike in prices with immediate effect.” Mr Gaurav Gupta, Director, Deloitte, says that the sales scene largely depends on how hot the summer turns out to be. “The sale of seasonal products like air-conditioners and refrigerators depend on climatic variations. Also, customer buying, which was subdued for sometime, is off late showing improvement in high-ticket products like automobiles. So, if the season is hot enough, it can prove to be a good summer for the consumer durable companies.”
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.