GST can help households save nearly Rs 5,000 in a year

NEW DELHI: The month of July, when the Goods and Services Tax (GST) comes into force, will not be much different for Sumitra, 34, a resident of Delhi.

When she goes out to buy monthly grocery after July 1, she will not find the GST hitting her budget, though the new prices might help her save a few hundred rupees every month.

While price of daily-use food items like vegetable, fruits, milk, rice, flour, and pulses will remain unchanged under the GST, that of packaged chicken, edible oil and butter will rise a little. Goods like packaged tea/coffee, spices, packed curd, packed cheese, sweets, corn flakes, hair oil, shampoos, face cream and medicines will be cheaper than before.

Therefore, the GST means marginal savings for households.

Let's take a look at the possible monthly expenses from July 1 onwards:

Prices of Goods before and after GST

Items	Qty (Kg/Ltr/Pack)	Old price (Per Unit)	Total (Rs)	New price (Per Unit)	Total (Rs)
Flour	20	25	500	25	500
Rice	20	50	1000	50	1000
Bread	15	20	300	20	300
Pulses	5	110	550	110	550
Milk	60	52	3120	52	3120
Vegetables/Fruit	30	50	1500	50	1500
Tea	2	150	300	150	300
Packaged chicken	5	350	1750	359	1795
Edible oil	4	125	500	126	505
Masala	1	300	300	289	289
Curd	2	100	200	92	184
Packed cheese	2	250	500	240	480
Butter	4	50	200	53	212
Biscuit	20	10	200	9	180
Sweets	2	350	700	337	674
Corn flakes	2	150	300	134	268
Ice cream	15	45	675	42	630
Cold drinks	15	20	300	18	270
Juices	15	30	450	29	435
Soap	8	25	200	21	168
Toothpaste	2	60	120	51	102
Hair oil	2	150	300	127	254
Shampoo	2	250	500	230	460
Face cream	2	300	600	280	560
Medicine	5	100	500	90	450
Total			15,565		15,186

(All prices are approximate. The above chart is modified version of Deloitte Chart published in ET.com)

A middle-class household is going to save Rs 379 on an average by our calculations, therefore, saving Rs 4,548 in a year.