GST :Mobile prices and recharges to become costlier?

NewDelhi June 30: A new tax regime will be launched in India from Tomorrow. Currently many customers are worried about their phone bill and the prices. Let's have a look at the impact of GST on mobiles.

Phone prices: The Mobile phones will be charged 12 % GST.
Currently, there are various exemptions given but these will no longer be carried forward in GST and states charge 5-6 % VAT on mobile phones. Experts say that costs of locally manufactured mobile will be increased.

Mobile Bills: Currently customers pay 15 % service tax on mobile bills but the new tax rate under GST would be 18 %.
The impact will be as follows

Prepaid Users: Sources say that companies may absorb extra tax burden. However experts feel that the companies will offer lesser talk time on the recharge done. For example, if a customer recharges RS 100 .currently he gets Rs 85 talk time, under GST he will get RS 82 as talk time.

Postpaid users: The mobile bill of users will go up by 3 %.
For example, customers will pay RS 30 extra for their bill of RS 1000 under GST.

Finally, customers are still unclear whether the companies will pass on input tax credits claimed to consumers.