Click to play videoNew Delhi: Twenty-five rupees for a 750-ml bottle of water - most people wouldn't blink twice if they were to cough up this kind of money in a multiplex.
Nevermind if a one-litre bottle of the same brand costs Rs 20 right outside the theatre.
Multiplexes across India have been selling bottled water at almost double their open market prices with a clever excuse to circumvent Maximum Retail Price rules.
They have tied up with mineral water companies to sell packaged water marked with a higher MRP. But the National Consumer Commission says this is an unfair practice.
“You can't charge different prices from place to place. It is a mockery of fixing the retail price and it would be an unfair trade practice,” says Chairman, National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, M B Shah.
Multiplexes in Mumbai were raided last month for selling products above the marked MRP. But then the big players like Kinley and Himalayan starting printing a price more than double the MRP on water bottles for multiplexes like INOX, Adlabs, PVR and Cinemax.
While this doesn't leave much scope for legal action against the multiplexes, the companies selling these higher priced bottles of water have come under the scanner from the sales tax department
If they've been given the benefit of dual prices officially, then our officers will check how much tax they need to pay up,” says Commissioner Sales Tax, B C Khatwa.
The reason multiplexes want to continue selling beverages at increased prices is clear.
A quick glance at their balance sheets reveals that upto 20 per cent of their revenues come from food and beverage sales.
Consumer Affairs Minister Sharad Pawar has promised prompt action against both multiplex owners and mineral water companies.
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