HUL in the eye of GST storm

The National Anti-Profiteering Authority said yesterday that Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) profiteered to the tune of Rs.420 crore by not passing on the benefit of the GST rate cut.

The Authority accused the company of an increase in base prices even after a cut in GST from 28% to 18% and from 18% to 12%.

The Directorate General of Anti-Profiteering said that HUL’s 505 units out of 900 stock keeping units were impacted by GST rate reductions.

The company has clarified that it passed the benefit of Rs 118.67 crore through additional grammage on which it had claimed a deduction. The Directorate on the other hand said that the extra-grammage was done pre-GST and is thus eligible for deductions from the profiteered amount for benefit passed to customers to the tune of Rs.69 crore.

In an already falling market, even a whiff of negative news is not taken well and not surprisingly, HUL is currently down in the red at Rs.1752, down 2% but it has recovered from the low point of Rs.1742, which was a fall of almost 2.5%.