By Martin Shwenk Leade

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The government has received nearly 3,000 complaints highlighting potential “dark patterns” and misleading discount practices by retailers following the recent GST rate cuts, Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare said on Monday.”Everyday, we are receiving complaints. So far, we have received close to 3,000 consumer complaints. We are sending them to the CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs) for further action,” Khare told reporters on the sidelines of an event.The ministry is closely monitoring instances where retailers may be avoiding passing the benefits of lower GST rates to consumers. Khare said artificial intelligence and chatbot technology are being deployed to better track and analyse complaints across sectors.The analysis focuses on “dark patterns” in pricing, misleading advertisements, and unfair trade practices where the benefits of GST reductions are not reflected in final consumer prices, she explained.”If there are too many complaints from different sectors, then they will be qualified for a class action. We are keeping a watch on this. We will surely take notice of anything where consumers are getting cheated with misleading discounts,” Khare added.Live EventsThe complaints mechanism comes amid concerns that consumers are not fully benefiting from the GST rate cuts. Reduced GST rates came into effect across India on September 22, following reforms approved at the 56th GST Council meeting on September 3.Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now!
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(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)Read More News onNCHGST complaintsConsumer Affairs Secretarytax cutsreduced GST ratesCBICConsumer Affairs Ministrycentral board of indirect taxes andnational consumer helplinenidhi khare(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2025 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online….moreless

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