HYDERABAD: Sweet shops selling Sankranti sweets in the city say they have recovered from the impact of demonetisation that had wrecked their festival business in 2017. However, this year, Goods and Service Tax (GST) has impacted the cost of sweets with a 7 per cent increase in prices, say sweet sellers. But this has not impacted the sales, which have gone up when compared to last year. Most of the sweet shops in the city are dealing mainly in Til ka ladoo, pheni, plain and malai Ghewar.
The sweet shops come under the 5 per cent GST slab whereas the raw materials used for making sweets fall under different tax brackets, which results in an increase in the price of a particular sweet, say sweet makers. “The cost has gone up by 7 to 8 per cent for some Sankranti sweets but the sale is going on as usual since it’s a festive occasion and people don’t bother about the costs of sweet. We had very low sales last year due to demonetisation but this year the sales have gone up,” said Ram Sankhla, owner, Sri Balaji Mithai Bhandar, Raj Bhawan Road.
Raw milk is a zero per cent GST rated product, but milk and cream, concentrated or containing added sugar or other sweetener, including skimmed milk powder, attract 5 per cent GST. “The sales are normal so far and there are no huge crowds as this is just a two-day festival and is celebrated locally and people buy sweets only to gift others,” said Suresh Sankhla, owner, Bandhan sweets, Raj Bhavan Road. “The costs have gone up slightly but that has not affected the sales. We have decided to bear the increased costs as it’s not much. We have had bulk orders coming in so we have to give discounts, these are regular customers and we cant push up the price as they may lose out to a competitor,” said Ravi Sharma, manager at Tiwari Brothers sweet shop, Khairatabad.