During a government meeting, the owner of Annapoorna Restaurant, a popular restaurant chain in Tamil Nadu raised concerns about different rates of GST on different items and described the complexities as a restaurant runner who has to deal with customers on a regular basis.

While speaking to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he said that he has to serve coffee and snacks to the same family but the GST is different for each member and this creates chaos. He said that this is something he has to deal with on a daily basis. “It is difficult to give different GST to a family in just one bill”, he said.

Srinivasan shares his dilemma

Giving an example of an eatable, he said that a bun doesn’t have GST but cream-filled buns have 18% GST. Hence the customer asks to bring cream and bun separately and says they will fill it. People in the room laugh as he shares this incident.

Srinivasan, the restaurant owner, urged the FM to keep the same GST for all the food items to lessen this complexity. “So if you increase the GST, let it be the same for every product”, he said. Citing the consumption habits of North Indians he said that Vanathi Srinivasan says people in North India eat lots of sweets that’s why our minister increased the GST by 5% on sweets and 12% on savoury. But he disagreed with it and said that the people in Tamil Nadu consume sweets, coffee and snacks in equal amounts.

Urging for a simplified GST to the Finance Minister, Srinivasan asked to keep the same GST for all the items. “If a family customer comes, even our computer can’t calculate this GST”, he said.

Video posting gone wrong!

The BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit posted this video on social media but as netizens noticed the restaurant owner apologizing to Nirmala Sitharaman in person soon after discussing the GST in the hall, a controversy erupted. Congress and DMK grabbed the chance and slammed the saffron brigade for “arrogance and outright disrespect” of the Annapoorna Restaurant owner Srinivasan.

Seeing the row, Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai apologised for sharing the private video on social media. “On behalf of @BJP4TamilNadu, I sincerely apologise for the actions of our functionaries who shared a private conversation between a respected business owner and our Hon. FM.” he wrote on X.

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However, netizens have strongly reacted to Srinivasan’s apology. “This is a harsh reality for small businesses like Annapoorna restaurant, who are burdened with an unjust tax system. While the powerful receive special favors, MSMEs continue to suffer”, wrote a user.