The rollout of revised GST rates on medicines and consumer goods has left shopkeepers, wholesalers, and customers in Hyderabad grappling with confusion and uncertainty. While bigger retail and medical outlets have already integrated the changes into their billing systems, small traders and kirana stores are still selling stock at old prices, citing lack of clarity from distributors and companies.
In Shivaji Nagar, Rama, who runs Sri Shekar General Store, said the absence of updated communication has left both sellers and customers in the dark.
“No clarity, no new rates. We are selling at the old rates. Customers are asking, but we do not know what to say as we weren’t told anything,” he said.
On the other hand, a worker at TV Papaiah General Stores in Monda Market Road said their store has already started implementing the revised slabs.
“New slabs are being implemented here, and we have also slashed rates. We generate bills with the QR code reader, which comes with the new rates. Only then do we know how much and what. The public is yet to know fully about these transitions,” the employee said.
Medical retailers appear to be handling the transition more smoothly, thanks to billing software updates.
Neelesh Kanodia of Yash Agencies, a pharmaceutical wholesale store in Ameerpet, explained how the changes are reflected in their store.
“We are selling medicines as per the revised GST 2.0. All the big medical stores, including ours, have already updated their MRPs and changed them in their billing software. Practically, it is not possible to go through each strip or each tablet one by one. So we have integrated an option in our billing software itself. Old MRP and new MRP are both reflected. Whatever old stock we had, we are now selling at the revised MRP. For example, if the old MRP was ₹100, the customer now gets it for ₹93,” he said.
Smaller provision stores continue to rely on older pricing as they wait for brand representatives to visit.
“New rates are not given yet. Every brand visits us once a week during their routine visits. Nobody came to visit us today. We are selling our stock at the old rates. Maybe we will have better clarity after a few days,” said Mukesh Choudhary from Variety Provision Store in West Marredpally.
However, the impact on other wholesalers is proving to be far more severe.
A medical shop owner on the condition of anonymity pointed out that the change has locked up significant sums of money in tax adjustments.
“Big wholesalers with stocks worth crores are stuck because they will take years to claim the tax difference through the GST portal. For example, if someone has ₹1 crore worth of stock, a 7% difference means a loss of ₹7 lakh straight away. Scale that up, and you are looking at losses in the range of ₹70 lakh or more. That money is locked up until claims are processed. This is the real problem we are facing,” he said.
Published – September 23, 2025 12:34 am IST
