Ordering food on swiggy and zomato may be expensive

Ordering food from platforms like Swiggy and Zomato can be expensive soon. These food aggregators have been instructed to give five per cent GST from all restaurants on cook food ordered food ordered through their platforms. This rule will come into effect from New Year i.e. January 1, 2022. Expert believes that this update of the Ministry of Finance will affect both the consumers and the small restaurant. The GST Council, in September 45th meeting, recommended the payment of GST by the restaurant on their board for food delivery platforms including Swiggy and Jomato. Earlier this month, the Finance Ministry issued a circular saying that the new rule will be applicable from January 1.

Under this update, food aggregators will have to collect and submit the GST from all the restaurants on their platforms. This means that for every order from the restaurant, food aggregators will have to keep a separate GST entry. To follow this system, these platforms will need additional resources, which will increase their cost. The attention is that the five percent GST will be above the current 18 percent GST.

On this matter, Deloitte Bharat Partner S. Mani said that consumers may see an increase in their e-com food bills from 1 January. The Compliance load of e-commerce food operators is also expected to increase.

Due to this change, small restaurant owners and food shops will have to pay five percent GST on all orders from online platforms. This can affect their earnings. Because of this, he can charge more on orders made with Swigy and Jomato apps. This will have a direct impact on consumers.

Tax expert told Units 360 that the annual revenue is less than Rs 40,00,000 for small restaurant owners GST. They do not need to pay GST in the general scenario.

Some stakeholders consider it positive and see as a good step for competition. Government officials also claimed that this change would definitely help some extent to prevent tax evasion.

On this change, Sarabjit Singh, owner of Pizza Corner Sizzlin Slics, said that this would affect small players in the market. Their customer will have an impact on the base. Gautam Kumar, a Delhi -based street sandwich shop owner, who started selling through Swiggy in Lockdown, said that we are already facing difficulties. With the relaxation in the rules, people have started moving to big restaurants. Swiggy and Jomato have not commented in the matter.