PUNE: Ahead of Consumer Day (December 24), leading consumer activist Suryakant Pathak has launched a consumer awareness campaign.
During a media interaction on Friday, Pathak alleged that fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms, especially multi-national companies (MNCs), are hand in glove with malls and are plundering consumers.
He said there is an established belief among most consumers that a larger unit has less price/gram ratio vis-a-vis a smaller unit. Hence, it is more economical. Accordingly, they tend to buy larger unit products. Cashing in on this tendency, these firms inflate MRPs on larger units, which enables malls to offer attractive discounts. However, ultimately, the consumer still ends up paying more. Supplying the smaller units to smaller retailers while the larger inflated MRP units to malls is another ploy.
An extensive survey conducted by the Akhil Bharatiya Consumer Panchayat (All India Consumers Jury) and Grahak Peth exposed the modus operandi of the FMCG firms, which disregard the price/gm ratio when pricing the smaller and the larger units of the same product of the same quality.
On an average, the larger unit costs more by 1.5 to 2 times than the smaller unit, said Pathak and displayed over 20 samples of various firms. A 100-gm unit of a tea sample displayed an MRP of Rs 30 while a 1,000-gm unit of the same product costs Rs 430 as against expected Rs 300.
The issue was brought to the notice of the District Consumer Protection Committee but the Department of Weight and Measures (DoWM) circumvented the issue by citing it beyond their purview.
DoWM said charging more than the MRP is an offence. However, it is the prerogative of the manufacturer to decide the MRP.
Pathak told Sakal Times that he is awaiting a written reply from DoWM officials. He will approach the Consumer Court immediately on the receipt of the reply. A number of consumer awareness conferences have been planned in the coming days.
CURRENT MALPRACTICES
- Malpractice by MNCs & bigger FMCG firms in malls
- Inflated MRP & varying Price/Gram ratio for more profits
- Price/Gram ratio higher for larger units (contrary to expectations)
- More consumer awareness campaigns in future
